"...[Banning] regarded [Cleonie Rogers] as a woman, which he did not the crop-headed, tight-lipped, sad-clad creature that was today's typical Western Terrestrial female..." (p. 221)
From within a spaceship, Anderson conveys as much as possible about social conditions back on Earth:
"...this bleak age..." (p. 217)
"...civilization-splitting tension..." (p. 220)
Kali worshippers versus puritanical pro-technologists. (p. 222)
OK. Tension makes people, including women, tense. But what do we think of Banning, denying womanhood to human "females" because they do not measure up to his preferences or expectations? Archaic twentieth century male sexist prejudice.
It seems that Cleonie is the only woman on board. We read on but, as I said in a recent post, there is a lot of physical action and conflict before we receive any elucidation of the issues involved. Basically, disagreements about how to organize society were not resolved in earlier instalments and therefore recur in a new form. The latest enemy is not the Actionists or the Humanists but the Western Reformers but we do not know that this early in the story.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I agree with Banning, there are dreary, even ghastly females I would not consider to be women. Like the horrible creatures who abort their babies to lessen their "carbon footprint." And many others as well!
Ad astra! Sean
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