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315 a PLaCe for revoLutIons In revoLutIon ? Marxism, Feminism, and the Monroe Republic Jeff Ewing In J. J. Abrams’s Revolution, the world is a dark place. More particularly, Revolution takes place fifteen years after electricity all over the planet was suddenly disabled, and with it, all technology that uses it. In what once was the United States of America, the U.S. government has collapsed (divided into six new nations), and territories are now controlled by warlords, militias, and rebel gangs. The story is set in the area now called the Monroe Republic , controlled by Sebastian Monroe and the Monroe Militia, and follows the attempt of Charlie Matheson, her uncle Miles, and their friends as they attempt to rescue Charlie’s brother and mother from the heart of Monroe’s territory. Monroe is convinced that the Mathesons know something about the blackout—and something about how to turn the power back on. Their history in the Monroe Republic reveals a lot about its operations as a political body, and two theoretical traditions have given us a number of tools to analyze it—Marxist and feminist theory. In this chapter, I will use those tools to look at the class and gender relations of the Monroe Republic, which lead to a greater understanding of a number of facets of life after the blackout. Critical analysis shows that the Monroe Republic is hierarchical in terms of both class and gender (in ways that suggest the deep interconnection of the two) and, as we will see, without serious restructuring and a reprioritization of state policy, the republic cannot be expected to last. When the Lights Went Out . . . Revolution begins fifteen years after the era of electricity suddenly (and without warning) ends—electric power, all over the globe, stops working. With- 316 Jeff Ewing out electrical power, the U.S. government collapses (presumably along with the rest of the nation-states around the globe), and in its place rise warlords, militias, and rebel gangs. The territory of the United States is now overtaken by six separate and independent nations—the California Commonwealth, the Plains Nation, the Republic of Texas, the Georgia Federation, the Wasteland , and the Monroe Republic. The Monroe Republic was organized and built by Sebastian Monroe and Miles Matheson, the former acting as president of the republic, with the latter building the strength and tactics of the Monroe Militia as its general (until a failed attempt to assassinate Monroe leaves Miles in hiding until the events of Revolution). The story told in Revolution starts when the Monroe Militia arrives where most of the Matheson family lives, seeking Miles and his brother, Ben. Monroe suspects they know something about the cause of the blackout . Miles is elsewhere, still in hiding, but Ben is shot and his son Danny is taken. Ben’s dying words to Charlie (daughter of the Mathesons, older sister to Danny, and Miles’s niece) are to find Miles in Chicago to save Danny. Miles, Aaron (a long-standing family friend), Maggie (Ben’s girlfriend after being long separated from his wife), and Charlie set off in pursuit of Danny (eventually they also lose Maggie and seek out Nora, with whom Miles once had a relationship but who has since joined the rebels). Beyond Miles’s betrayal, the Mathesons are of interest to Monroe as he suspects (correctly) that they know something about the cause of the blackout. Rachel Matheson , Ben’s wife and mother to Charlie and Danny, had already been taken into Monroe’s custody. Rachel and Ben eventually are found to be part of a small group of individuals connected to a government project (picked up by the Department of Defense) whose accidental result was the blackout. The project intended to create a source of cheap and accessible energy but instead disabled electricity within its area of operation. Each member of that group—Ben Matheson among them—has a pendant, which over time are revealed to be capable of turning electricity back on within a certain radius. Once that is discovered by Monroe, the search for a pendant intensifies. Militias in Revolution have a relative monopoly of control over their respective territories and the food supply and weapons within them. The rise of the Monroe Republic was facilitated by Miles’s command of often ruthless efficiency and tactical expertise. It is revealed that the territories have skirmishes with each other (also engaging in diplomacy and sometimes alliances) along their borders, and the control Monroe has over...

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