The gang boss, Richard Hammer, plans to capture the town, hijack a jet, fly to the capital, find an atom bomb and use it to destroy the government which started the war and which hangs refugees struggling to survive. Armed from the government's arsenals and with no one to stop them, Hammer's gang will rule and conquer.
Hammer is motivated by a vision of the future: no more hunger, cold, wet, hiding, running, destinationless walking or childhood deaths.
"'...they'll grow up like God meant they should, free an' happy an' safe. We c'n build our own future, boys - I seem t' see it now, a tall city reachin' f'r the sun.'" (2, p. 50)
Thus, we find Hammer's vision of a future within one of Poul Anderson's many visions of the future. There is something of the prophet and the sf writer in everyone who envisages better times ahead.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I thought it self serving of Hammer to complain of the provisional gov't of the US hanging "refugees" if they were actually bandits. In times of chaos and anarchy people who live by robbery, rape, torture, murder, etc., should not be surprised if they end up getting hanged.
That said, I do see elements of possible greatness within Hammer. The problem being, of course, that it's so much harder and difficult to actually build anything lasting and reasonably beneficial. And I don't believe Hammer could have done so.
Sean
Sean,
Hammer to Wayne: "You an' your kind made us outlaws, drivin' us away when we came starvin' to you, houndin' us south an' then sittin' back and forgettin' about us." (p. 60)
They argue back and forth, of course.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I should reread that argument before I comment further! Albeit, I suspect I'll end agreeing more with Wayne than Hammer.
Sean
Sean,
I expect you will.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I did reread that part of TWILIGHT WORLD showing the argument between Roderick Wayne and Hammer, and I still came to conclude Wayne had the better argument.
The situation about fifteen years before the events of "Chain of Logic" reminded me of what it was like cities like Portland immediately after the Change in Stirling's Emberverse series. Enough food for everybody for a SHORT time, but not for long enough for more food to be obtained. So a hard man like Norman Arminger would expel the "surplus" population, keeping only those he could use. Something similar seems to have been what happened in the Southvale area after WW III in that town. An emergency dictatorship drove out many and kept only those the town and the farms around it could feed.
I agree such measures are hard, harsh, and cruel. But I simply don't know what else is possible if a sudden, shocking crisis like the Change or a WW III like what we see in TWILIGHT WORLD crashes down on us almost or literally overnight. Feed everybody for a short time with the dead certainty that all will soon die? Or feed only a few to enable SOME to survive?
As for Richard Hammer himself, I'm surprised he became a bandit at all. I would have thought a man as intelligent and able as he was would have been told to stay in Southvale by the dictatorship. Because a man who knew tools and machinery as well as he did would be too useful for the town, and it would be wasteful to kick him out. Unless the situation was truly that dire immediately after the war?
Sean
Sean,
In chaotic circumstances, there was probably some arbitrariness about who left and who stayed.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree! And, more bluntly, some arbitrariness about who would or would not be expelled.
Sean
Post a Comment