Arthur Tregennis is a "...Plateaunian of Crew descent..." (3, p. 36) and:
"...the long nail on his left little finger proclaimed him an aristocrat of his planet, never subject to manual labor." (ibid.)
While exemption from manual labor might be welcome, I would certainly not want a long nail, not even one on just one finger. Indeed:
"Dorcas sometimes wondered why he kept that affectation, when he admitted to having sympathized with the democrats and their revolution, 33 years ago. Habit, perhaps." (ibid.)
Poul Anderson sketches in background information about the Known Space History. The Plateaunian revolution is described in A Gift From Earth which was published twenty years before "Iron." I read it well over thirty three years ago. History passes for the readers as well as for the characters.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Well, I have read of how Chinese aristocrats grew all TEN of their fingernails long to indicate a similar freedom from never having to do manual labor. And it's been many since I've read Niven's A GIFT FROM EARTH. I am reading his A WORLD OUT OF TIME, however.
Ad astra! Sean
Incidentally, this is why pale complexions (especially in women) were considered aristocratic in Europe, the Middle East, China and Japan -- it showed you hadn't had to spend a lot of time outside in the sun. Lots of exposure to bright sunlight also causes wrinkles to develop earlier.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I noticed that in portraits of aristocratic ladies from Old Kingdom Egypt! Those women from the III to VI Dynasties of Egypt were VERY fair complexioned. Their husbands, brothers, sons, etc., not so much.
I've never liked the current mania in Western nations for so many women basting and roasting themselves in the sun! It merely ruins their complexions, gets them wrinkly and prematurely older looking, and puts them at risk for skin cancer.
Ad astra! Sean
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