Nanny Day: Leah Cypress

Nanny Day was an interesting read. For this week of sci-fi related things, this was one of our options, an award nominated short story that was featured in an issue of last year’s Asimov sci-fi magazine. That being said the short story was completely devoid of anything that would possibly tie it to, at the very least, a superficial look at what makes science fiction, science fiction. It was very strange reading it because at face value I didn’t think the story provided me with much in the way of what I thought was science fiction, as a matter of fact it seemed very much like a human interest type of work. Not to sound stereotypical, but when I think of science fiction my immediate response is to think of computers and different planets and scientific rationalizations of seemingly impossible feats. The science fiction of yester year leant itself to this world so completely advanced from ours that it didn’t seem like it could be real. In other words I always had this notion of sci-fi being a fantastical world full of technological advancements and progress where their problems were far superior to the every day mundane problems we in our lives face today. This is why the “Nanny Day’ story was so completely left field. This story has to do with a single mother facing the challenge of a nanny who wants to sue her for custody of her child, in a world where “bioist” laws were being challenged as to whether or not the person who birthed the child is necessarily the person who is best fit to raise the child. In this way the novel is about more social aspects of progress rather than technological ones. The science being analyzed and challenged in this story is of a more anthropological sense than the science of the typical sci-fi genre. Really throughout the story the only thing that cements it’s place in a futuristic world, or even hints to the sci-fi nature of the story is the fact that the mother on several occasions uses a sort of holographic telephone device. I really struggled with trying to place this story as a sci-fi story in my head, because of this I tried to think kind of eclectically about how the themes within the story applied to the themes I know to be true within the sci-fi genre. One thing that I’ve surmised is the possibility of the story being a metaphor for the concept of the “others”. Based on Octavia Butler’s story from the previous readings I’ve realized how vital the idea of the “others” is within this genre. I think Cypress more or less utilized this idea with the advent of the nanny figure as the proverbial other who is trying to take over our world, the world in this case being the son of the main character. I think that connection and also the idea of this story exploring anthropological science rather than just technology really opened the door for me as to what sci-fi could be and has become. In retrospect, I’m really impressed with the story and how it kind of pushed the boundaries on what defines science fiction because in truth there are so many layers to science and the sci-fi genre really just latches onto one as opposed to taking advantage of them all. One thing I will say about he story however is that for me the ending was a little weak. I felt like it left me wanting more and not in the “cliff- hanger” sort of way but rather I ended the story feeling as though it were unfinished and needed more to it. Overall though I found it to be a fascinating read, and probably the only sci-fi story we read that really prompted me to analyze and think about its content.