45 pages • 1 hour read
Scott ReintgenNyxia
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: Environmental Exploitation, Colonialism, Child Labor, and Corporate Greed
Historically, colonizers strip colonies of natural resources against the will of the native population, and this is mirrored in Nyxia. In the novel, Babel Communications is a multinational corporation focused on mining more nyxia, a substance found on the planet Eden. Since the native population of Eden is opposed to this, Babel has been engaged in a conflict with them. In the past, similar scenarios have played out in the real world, like British colonizers draining India’s agricultural resources or Belgian colonizers engaging in rampant elephant hunting in the Congo basin to obtain ivory. This continued into the 20th and 21st centuries, and Babel’s mining operation mirrors the United States’ mining of uranium on Navajo lands in the 1980s. A Barcelona-based study found that “mining causes 24.7% of environmental conflict involving indigenous people” (Donaldson, Alan. “Mining Causes 24.7% of Environmental Conflict Involving Indigenous People.” Mining Technology, 19 June 2023).
Nyxia also indicts corporate greed, suggesting that large corporations will further their interests at any cost, even exploiting children to do so. Babel Communications organizes the competition that Emmett and the other teenagers take part in to create operatives who can mine more nyxia on their behalf. The company manipulates them by promising to share a small portion of the profits with the competitors’ families, knowing that these children come from poverty and are desperate for a chance to better their situations. In the real world, child labor remains in use in 21st-century gold mining, salt mining, and quarry mining. Children provide cheap and easy labor, and corporations leverage this. For instance, in 2022, the technology company Apple was accused of using cobalt mined by children in its products (Dimri, Amogh. “Child Labor and the Human Rights Violations Embedded in Producing Technology.” Columbia Undergraduate Law Review, 18 Jan. 2022).
Literary Context: Young Adult Science Fiction
Nyxia is a science fiction novel written for a young adult audience. Science fiction considers how humanity reacts to and interacts with technology and often involves time travel, space travel, or near-future technological advancements. A central question for science fiction texts is how developments in technology affect human attitudes and decision-making. For example, Nyxia considers how corporations would behave if there were a highly lucrative substance on another planet that needed to be mined by children. Young adult fiction typically centers on a teenage protagonist and deals with themes of identity and coming of age. At the intersection of young adult science fiction are stories that explore how young people’s identity is formed in the face of technological advancements. Core to this is the novel’s exploration of The Dangers of Ambition, as Emmett must decide whether to remain true to the values his parents have instilled in him or to embrace the cutthroat practices of Babel Communications.
Nyxia is part of an early-21st-century trend toward greater diversity in young adult and speculative fiction, genres that have traditionally been dominated by white male protagonists. Reintgen worked as a high school English teacher in North Carolina, and he wanted to write a novel that represented the students he taught, who came from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is why Nyxia features a Black protagonist and also has a cast of characters from various countries and cultures around the world.
