OK. This story does bear some further analysis. That early expository passage, the broadcast address, not only sets the scene but also plays a role in the eventual action. First, the speaker's remark that wars had escalated made the narrator reflect that assassinations might escalate. Secondly, the fact that the speaker was not only an academic but also a leader in a major political party, although not one that held office as yet, made the narrator think that he, the speaker, might be the next target - the enemy eliminating national leaders even before they become national leaders. In fact, the narrator has a moment of realization:
"I stood unmoving for an instant. The crowd milled around me...
"Then I started running." (pp. 201-202)
Lastly for now, maybe, we notice that this a dated future. The narrator/field agent has to use a grocery store phone booth to call his organization's local HQ...
(James Bond had to use a public phone whereas his successor, the Man from UNCLE, used a hand-held communicator decades before the rest of us had acquired mobile phones.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I like to watch LAW & ORDER, and one thing I noted with interest was how the police detectives in the earlier episodes from 1991-93 frequently used public pay phones for making calls.
Ad astra! Sean
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