Beggars in Spain

“See, Leisha—this tree made this flower. Because it can. Only this tree can make this kind of wonderful flower. That plant hanging up there can't, and those can't either. Only this tree. Therefore the most important thing in the world for this tree to do is grow this flower. The flower is the tree's individuality—that means just it, and nothing else—made manifest. Nothing else matters.” 

Roger explains to his daughter the importance of individuality and being true to one's self, two ideas that will be of immense importance to Leisha both personally and politically. In addition, it introduces plants and flowers as symbols of individuality, symbols that will re-emerge particularly as they relate to Leisha's relationship with Alice. For example, Alice insists on sending Leisha common flowers rather than exotic ones, as if to remind her that Sleepers are individuals too.

“No, the only dignity, the only spirituality, rests on what a man can achieve with his own efforts. To rob a man of the chance to achieve, and to trade what he achieves with others, is to rob him of his spiritual dignity as a man.” 

This is the earliest and most direct distillation of the Yagaiism philosophy to which Leisha and others adhere for much of the book. Yagaiism shares several similarities with Objectivism, a philosophy developed by the Russian-American author Ayn Rand. Rand endorses a laissez faire system of capitalism in which men and women owe nothing to each other outside of voluntarily agreed upon contracts. In the book's preface, Kress makes clear that she does not endorse Ayn Rand's worldview. While Leisha never rejects Yagaiism outright, she does come to believe it is insufficient as a guiding principle for humanity and markets.

“You must not let them bother you, Leisha. Not ever. There is an old Asian proverb: 'The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.' You must never let your individual caravan be slowed by the barking of rude or envious dogs.” 

On the surface, Kenzo Yagai's advice to Leisha that she ignore her critics is rather anodyne and uncontroversial, but his characterization of her critics as “dogs” serves to dehumanize the Sleepers, a disturbing notion considering that just pages later, his words echo in Leisha's head while she talks to her very own sister. It is this same dehumanizing urge that causes Jennifer and her Sleepless comrades to refer to all Sleepers as “beggars.”

“Rich people don't have their children genetically modified to be superior—they think any offspring of theirs is already superior. By their values. And poor people can't afford it. We Sleepless are upper-middle class, no more. Children of professors, scientists, people who value brains and time.” 

This quote reflects some of the complicated configurations of superiority, inferiority, and privilege in America that the book frequently explores. In addition, the connection Kress draws between Sleepless and the middle class serves as a subtle indictment of bourgeoisie values. For example, while the Sleepless value “brains and time,” they are also dismissive of art and largely incapable of non-linear thinking.

“She was here. At Harvard. With space ahead of her, time to learn, and with people like Stewart Sutter who accepted and challenged her. All the hours he was awake.” 

The last sentence of this quote reveals the profound loneliness at the heart of Leisha's existence and that of any other Sleepless who gets close to a Sleeper. It also seems to suggest that Leisha and Stewart’s relationship is doomed, despite possessing great respect and affection for one another.

“What if you walk down that street in Spain and a hundred beggars each want a dollar and you say no and they have nothing to trade you but they're so rotten with anger about what you have that they knock you down and grab it and then beat you out of sheer envy and despair?” 

Tony's speech to Leisha represents a significant escalation of Yagaiism. It suggests that not only do the wealthy owe nothing to the poor, but also that poor will retaliate against the wealthy for refusing to help. This symbol of “Beggars” will be adopted and reclaimed by several different characters and groups throughout the novel—frequently as an epithet for anyone viewed as an obstacle to the aims of the Sleepless, but also occasionally as a badge of honor. 

“I tried to figure out why desperately poor countries—by our standards anyway; over there Y-energy is mostly available only in big cities—don't have any trouble accepting the superiority of Sleepless, whereas Americans, with more prosperity than any time in history, build in resentment more and more.” 

Richard examines the ways privilege breeds resentment and mistrust when that privilege is threatened. That so many resentment-driven Populist movements have arisen across historically prosperous Western countries over the past decade arguably shows this principle in action. On the other hand, Richard's conclusion that prosperity breeds resentment ignores the role income inequality plays in the growth of these Populist political movements.

To Kenzo Yagai she said, Trade isn't always linear. You missed that. If Stewart gives me something, and I give Stella something, and ten years from now Stella is a different person because of that and gives something to someone else as yet unknown—it's an ecology. An ecology of trade, yes, each niche needed, even if they're not contractually bound. Does a horse need a fish? Yes.” 

While it may seem obvious to some that economies are more than oversimplified systems made up of individuated one-on-one contracts, Leisha's realization represents a significant departure from the tenets of Yagaiism—and, for that matter, Objectivism.

“To Tony she said, Yes, there are beggars in Spain, who trade nothing, give nothing, do nothing. But there are more than beggars in Spain. Withdraw from the beggars, you withdraw from the whole damn country. And you withdraw from the possibility of the ecology of help. That's what Alice wanted, all those years ago in her bedroom. Pregnant, scared, angry, jealous, she wanted to help me, and I wouldn't let her because I didn't need it. But I do now. And she did then. Beggars need to help as well as be helped.” 

Again, the realization that something other than material wealth, goods, or services can be exchanged between producers and “beggars” may seem obvious to some. For a woman like Leisha—who was biologically and socially privileged enough to have never needed anyone's help until now, and who was indoctrinated in a system of thought like Yagaiism—this is a revelation. 

“Jennifer hadn't tried to explain to him that religious belief was not the point. The will to believe created its own power, its own faith, and, ultimately, its own will. Through the practice of faith, whatever its specific rituals, one brought into existence the object of that faith. The believer became the Creator.” 

Jennifer's complicated feelings about her Muslim faith go a long way to explain her fanaticism surrounding Sanctuary and Sleepless, as well as her narcissism, megalomania, and God complex—all of which intensify as the novel progresses. Essentially, she believes in herself and her movement as strongly as the most devout Muslim or Christian believes in God.

“Do you know what Aristotle said about equality? 'Equals revolt that they may become superior. Such is one state of mind that creates revolutions.'” 

Leisha seeks to expose the extent to which revolutions, when orchestrated by those already treated equally under the law, are less about creating an egalitarian society and more about asserting their superiority over others. This can arguably be seen in the Populist movements that have arisen over the past decade in the West, as well as various white nationalist movements whose members seek to reassert the superiority that they believe they possess over other races. Aristotle's full quote is, “Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind that creates revolutions.”

“The eighteenth-century values were social conscience, rational thought, and a basic belief in the goodness of order. With those attitudes, they were going to remake or stabilize the world, all the Lockes and Rousseaus and Franklins and even Jane Austens, who was also in the wrong century. Sound like Leisha Camden?” 

Hawke situates his dispute with Leisha as a disagreement between the Romantic values of the 19th century and the Enlightenment values of the 18th century. In his telling, Leisha places her faith in rationality and order, while Hawke prefers emotion and chaos. Interestingly, one of the most important ideas of the Enlightenment era was Jean-Jacques Rousseau's social contract theory, which argues that authority is conferred on the state through an informal or tacit agreement with the people. This would seem to contradict Yagaiism which prizes explicit contracts between individuals rather than tacit ones between individuals and institutions.

“Are you angry yet, Jordan? Do you want to come with me to see more babies without medical care of running water because under Yagaiism nutrition and Y-energy are basic Dole rights but medicine and plumbing fixtures are free-market contractual enterprises? Do you want to see more adults who sit around all day and rot, knowing they can't compete with automation for low-level jobs or with genemods for skilled ones? Do you want to see more toddlers with hookworm, more marauding teenagers who can have all the law they want but no real work? Are you angry yet?” 

This is among the more persuasive expressions of Hawke's revolutionary philosophy, appealing as it does to the listener's empathy for those who are suffering because of current social hierarchies. That said, Hawke's tailors his speech to keep Jordan under his wing—and thus keep his power play against Leisha going—and it is not necessarily reflective of Hawke's true feelings.

“This was what We-Sleep meant, then. Not just hatred for Kevin Baker and Leisha Camden and Jennifer Sharifi, powerful smart people who could take care of themselves, who were economic opponents with all the best economic weapons on their side. But also hatred for Joey No-Name, who wouldn't recognize an economic weapon if he tripped over it. Which he probably would.” 

Hawke's insistence that Joey remain at his factory—despite the fact that doing so leaves him vulnerable to his bloodthirsty co-workers—severely undercuts his earlier statements to Jordan about We-Sleep helping the weak and alleviating suffering.

“It's just that I thought maybe I could become what I created. Stupid idea, huh? All of literature shows that the creators can't become the creations.” 

The normally stoic and scientific Susan is vulnerable upon learning she will never be Sleepless. Susan's mention of creators in literature isn't entirely clear, but she may be referring to Dr. Frankenstein, who believed incorrectly that by creating life he could conquer death.

“You did it to increase We-Sleep profits. Or rather, you think you did it for that reason. But profits were increasing anyway. You really did it because you're not a Sleepless, and never can be, and you're one of the haters that always moves to destroy any superiority he can't have.” 

Leisha reiterates her view of Populist movements like Hawke's. Although they can and frequently are created by opportunistic power-hungry leaders looking to profit off of them, Populist movements are driven first and foremost by resentment, she argues. 

“All of it, the whole trefoil organization—id, ego, and superego, some wit had labeled it sardonically—was underwritten by cheap, ubiquitous Y-energy, powering automated factories making possible a lavish Dole that traded bread and circuses for votes. The whole thing, Leisha thought, was peculiarly American, managing to combine democracy with materialism, mediocrity with enthusiasm, power with the illusion of control from below.” 

In describing the new social status quo of Livers, Donkeys, and Sleepless, Leisha reveals her complicated feelings about America. In some ways, America is the product of Enlightenment values merging with Romantic values, a place where the achievements of science and rationality have enabled the growth of a society where most of its inhabitants live by values Leisha disdains.

“They all liked everything, because everything was so interesting.”

This quote very neatly encapsulates the reason Sleepless children are always described as “joyous.” It also runs contrary to the stereotype that highly intelligent children are less happy than those with middling or below average intelligence.

“But none of them protested aloud after the vote was taken. They were a community.” 

This quote comes after the contentious debate over whether to euthanize the first Sleeper baby born on Sanctuary. While the word “community” generally signifies a group of people who offer support for one another, Jennifer's definition of the term has been thoroughly corrupted. She weaponizes the word to encourage groupthink in service of deeply unethical and often morally reprehensible practices, like murdering infants and the infirm who the community perceives to be biologically inferior.

“Her strings were not enough. Their incompleteness taunted her yet again, like a missing piece of an equation you knew was missing even though you had never seen it before, because otherwise there was a hole in the center of the idea. There was a hole in Miri, and a Sleeper baby spiraled through it—Joan's Sleeper brother, who by this time tomorrow wouldn't exist any more than the missing piece of the thought equation existed, had ever existed, was ever out there somewhere. And now Joan hated her.”

In this quote, Miri confronts the limitations of her super-powered brain. While Miri can easily understand and apply complex mathematical equations and scientific principles, she lacks the moral and emotional intelligence necessary to even know what's missing from the way she thinks. This sort of intelligence, many would argue, can only come from experiencing the world and its people on a broader level than Miri can in her circumstances. Perhaps this is why Jennifer finally decides to permit Miri to watch newsgrids from Earth following her emotional breakdown over the loss of Joan's unborn brother.

“But this dream of Drew's had been light, not darkness. Yet it was the same. Leisha was sure of it. The edge of something vast and lawless, something that could swallow the tiny careful light of her reason.”

Even though Leisha's hallucinatory dream was full of joy and light, it still deeply disturbs her. The reason for this seeming paradox is that the logic and language of dreams runs completely counter to rational thought. Having lost her faith in Yagaiism, in the law, and in most of her Sleepless peers, rational thought is one of the few things Leisha still trusts, and it makes up the most significant part of her identity.

“That was right; her mind had added what was missing, what had always been missing, all her life. The ideas—not linear, not knotted into strings, not connected in perceptible ways—from the missing part of her mind. The dreaming part.”

Miri has a far different reaction to Drew's dream-inducing performance than Leisha does. Rather than view non-linear dream logic as a threat to rational thought, Miri views it as a complement to it, freeing her brain to solve the problems of science and technology even more effectively. In Miri, the rational Enlightenment worldview and the disordered Romantic worldview are subtly reconciled. 

“I think she'd detonate the world if she thought it would finally make her feel safe.”

This is among the most significant attempts in the novel to humanize its main antagonist, Jennifer. By this point, Jennifer has made herself into something of a monster by ordering the euthanasia of numerous members of her community against their will—including her own grandson, Tony —and manufacturing bioweapons poised to kill millions on Earth. Richard's characterization of her motives is startlingly human, reminding the reader of Jennifer's troubled childhood during which she lost all sense of security and stability when her father died, and her mother became a drug addict.