Manjula Padmanabhan’s Escape: A study of the dystopian futuristic vision through science fiction

Abstract

Escape articulates Manjula Padmanabhan’s concerns over insane scientific aggression and fast receding humanism. It
portrays a country governed by the misogynist dictatorship of Generals, set in the futuristic world inhabited by Clones
, Drones and Boyz, all a figment of science fiction. The two protagonists of the novel are escaping from the country
which has close resemblance to India though it is never mentioned. In this country women are extinct under a two-
decade programme eliminating natural procreation in favour of a cloning technology that gives complete control to a
dictatorship of Generals. Meiji is the last surviving female in a country that has wiped out the fairer sex as they have
invented the cloning technology annihilating the need for natural procreation altogether. She has been kept hidden by
her Uncles but after some time keeping her hidden becomes difficult for her Uncles and they decide to move her to a
safer destination .Uncle Youngest is entrusted with the responsibility of taking her to her freedom. The entire plot is
built around this Journey. This journey has a symbolic meaning for both the Protagonists. For Meiji it is a journey to
Womanhood and for Youngest it is a struggle with his carnal feelings and propriety. Underlying the grotesque sci-fi
genre characters like drones, Generals, boyz and the symbolic blasted landscape painted in dystopian terms is the
effervescent lust for life and dreams of attaining womanhood.