Asked what is to be done, Hugh Valland replies:
"'We survive,'..." (p. 33)
Assessing their situation and their supplies, he judges:
"'We'll live,'..." (p. 35)
Asked whether they can get off the planet where they have crash-landed, he replies:
"'Got to.'" (ibid.)
Well, he says a little more than that:
"'Sure. Got to. Mary O'Meara's waitin' for me." (ibid.)
A more personal motivation has come into play. On our very first reading of this novel, we accept Valland's statement at face value. It is only at the very end of the novel that we question the sanity of his motivation. (We can only read for the first time once!)
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I was certainly surprised by the conclusion of WORLD WITHOUT STARS. As I was by the endings of others of Anderson's stories: "Welcome," "The Martyr," and "Eutopia."
Ad astra! Sean
The all-male crew shows the date of composition, though.
I'm partway through reading "After Doomsday".
Something that shows the date of composition is most (all?) of the humans smoking.
BTW Did people smoke in submarines in the mid 20th century? It seems like a *bad* idea to smoke in a closed environment like a submarine or a spaceship.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Jim!
Mr. Stirling: Not necessarily, given FTL all male crews would not be that odd. The men on the "Benjamin Franklin" did not expect to be away from Earth more than a few years. And did not expect to find Earth destroyed.
Jim: Humans being what we all are I expect plenty of people in the future to have bad habits: smoking, drinking to excess, overeating, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Yes, but it didn't seem like the characters regarded smoking as a *bad* habit.
The unhealthy effects of smoking were only *starting* to be recognized when Poul wrote the novel.
Kaor, Jim!
I agree with both of these points. Everybody in N America must know of the now famous Surgeon General's warning!
Ad astra! Sean
My mother quit smoking when she read the SG's warning. My father regarded her as an amateure -- he quit 13 times, before it stuck.
Oddly, my mother died of a rare form of bone marrow cancer at 76, and my father at 92 of liver failure.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I am glad your mother succeeded in quitting smoking the very first time she tried. My condolences for the kind of final illness she had. Age 76 would be thought an advanced age even a century ago.
Your father living till age 92 is nothing to sneer at!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: my father was extremely healthy -- he had the same waist measurement and body weight at 86 that he did as a contender for the cross-country running even in the 1936 Commonwealth Games. Alas, all I inherited from him was his short-sightedness...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I can empathize! I used to be satisfactorily thin--before I blimped out. Starting in 2012 I began a long hard struggle to de-blubber myself, managing to lose about 70 lbs.
I hope you live till at least your father's age, 92. Like you, I'm also near-sighted.
Ad astra! Sean
He managed to enlist in the army in 1939 by a clever trick.
The optometrist knew people were memorizing the eyechart, so he had them go to the window and describe what they saw at the end of the laneway.
My father paid a farmer to park a cart there, and described it in fine detail...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I have to admire your father's cleverness and patriotic zeal, even if the means he used were not quite strictly honest. (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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