"She was in uniform - another obsolete aspect of her society - but it shimmered gold and molded itself to her." (p. 737)
The Kirkasanters, isolated for millennia from the mainstream of humanity, retain the ancient tradition of uniforms that has become obsolete in the civilizations of the Commonalty. The Rangers do not wear uniforms. The civilizations that they serve do not have uniformed armies or police forces. Maybe they do have some sort of armies or police forces but not uniformed ones. That is a big difference from what we are used to and take for granted. Small cultural differences can have big significances.
When Neil Gaiman succeeded Alan Moore as the author of Miracleman, his characters attended Carnival in London. One couple sought directions from a man wearing a Metropolitan Police uniform who explained that he was a member of a Historical Re-enactment Society. Right. His appearance had been a surprise.
(I have probably mentioned that I got the fright of my life when I saw a man in a black uniform with a swastika armband standing to attention outside a room in a Trade Union Centre. Then someone said two words that made everything OK: "Drama group.")
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I am not so sure it's entirely plausible for uniforms to be totally obsolete in the Commonalty. You don't have to be police or military to wear them. In the minimal gov't and libertarian ethos of the Commonalty I would expect private security companies to do a lot of the protecting against crime. So I would their security officers to wear uniforms. The uniforms would identify who they worked for, ranks, and badges with ID numbers.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
This shows how even a casual phrase can generate discussion of the nature of society in the future period.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Because I never particularly noticed that detail before--but it struck me as odd once you discussed it. We would know more if Anderson had set more stories in the Commonalty background.
Ad astra! Sean
No uniforms does seem rather unlikely.
Even employees of a grocery store wear something that indicates "I am an employee here rather than a customer."
Kaor, Jim!
I agree.
I thought of that as well, how many retail employees also wear uniforms.
Ad astra! Sean
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