The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by American writer
Robert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of the genre. He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's...
, about a
lunarThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
colonyIn politics and in history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their...
's revolt against rule from Earth. The novel expresses and discusses libertarian ideals in a speculative context.
Originally serialized in
Worlds of If (December 1965, January, February, March, April 1966), the book received the
Hugo AwardThe Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories...
for best science fiction novel in 1967, and was nominated the Nebula Award in 1966.
Plot
In 2075, underground colonies are scattered across the Moon. Most "Loonies", as the residents are called, are either criminal or political exiles or their descendants. Anyone who stays longer than a few months undergoes "irreversible physiological changes and can never again live in comfort and health in a
gravitational fieldA gravitational field is a model used within physics to explain how gravity exists in the universe. In its original concept, gravity was a force between point masses...
six times greater than that to which their bodies have become adjusted." Thus, transportees, having served their sentences, have no choice but to remain. The total population is about three million, with men outnumbering women two to one, down from ten to one in the early days. This has a profound effect on society. For example,
polyandrousPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
forms of marriage are the norm.
Although the Earth-appointed Protector of the Lunar Colonies (universally called the Warden and just as universally reviled) holds power, in practice, there is little intervention in the loose Lunar society. There is work enough for anyone who wants it.
HOLMES IV (High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV) is the Lunar Authority's master computer. It has gradually been given almost total control of Luna's facilities as a cost-saving measure; it is cheaper (though not as safe) to have a single main computer and expand its capacity than to have multiple independent systems.
The story is narrated by Manuel Garcia "Mannie" O'Kelly-Davis, a one-armed computer technician called in when HOLMES IV begins behaving oddly. He discovers that it has
becomeIn philosophy, systems theory and science, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems.-Definitions:...
self-awareSentience is the ability to feel or perceive subjectively. The term is used in philosophy as well as in science fiction and in the study of artificial intelligence...
; the malfunctions are the result of its immature sense of humor. Mannie names it
MikeIn Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress , the character Mycroft Holmes is a self-aware computer system entrusted with running the life-support systems, communications, payroll and many other things, in a penal colony underground in the Moon or "Luna"...
after
Mycroft HolmesMycroft Holmes is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the elder brother of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.- Profile :...
, brother of
Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional character of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of British author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
, and they become friends.
Book 1: That Dinkum Thinkum
Though he himself is apolitical, Mannie does Mike a favor by sneaking a recorder into an illegal anti-Authority meeting. When the authorities raid the gathering, he flees with Wyoming "Wyoh" Knott, a statuesque blonde agitator. While they hide in a hotel room, Mannie introduces Wyoh to Mike. Mannie's former teacher, the elderly Professor Bernardo de la Paz, was the speaker when the guards arrived to break up the meeting. With Mike's help, they meet with him.
The professor claims that Luna must stop shipping
hydroponicallyHydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil...
-grown wheat to Earth or its resources will be exhausted. Mike calculates that, unless something is done, there will be food riots in seven years and cannibalism in nine. Wyoh and the Professor decide to start a revolution. Mannie is persuaded to join when Mike tells him the chances of success: 1 in 7, plenty good enough for any self-respecting Loonie.
Mannie, Wyoh, and de la Paz begin recruiting members and forming covert cells. Mike's capabilities are invaluable. As the movement grows, they frustrate all attempts by the Authority Security Chief Alvarez to penetrate it. Mike adopts the persona of Adam
SeleneSelene is the Titan goddess of the moon.In Greek mythology, Seléne was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
, the leader of the movement, dealing with members via the phone system he controls. By a stroke of luck, Mannie saves Stuart Rene LaJoie, a rich, well-connected, sympathetic tourist, from being killed for a social blunder. He starts working on turning public opinion on Earth in favor of lunar independence.
In May 2076, the revolution begins without warning. Some soldiers, part of a regiment shipped in to quell the mounting unrest, rape and kill a Loonie girl, then kill another who finds her body. The Loonies riot and attack soldiers and Authority offices. There are many casualties, but the outcome is never in doubt; the revolutionaries win.
There are many problems, but one looms above all others. What to do when Earth tries to take its colony back? Luna sends wheat to Earth using an
electromagnetic catapultA mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch that would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential...
. Mike states that rocks, arriving at 11 kilometers per second, will release the same energy as a small atomic bomb. However, the catapult is an inviting target. They will have to build a second, secret one as a backup.
Book 2: A Rabble in Arms
Mike impersonates the Warden in messages to Earth, and grain shipments continue, to give the new regime time to organize and prepare for an attack. Meanwhile, every armchair revolutionary, petty authoritarian and religious zealot demands a say. The Professor sets up an "Ad-Hoc Congress" to keep them occupied with endless arguments, while the original trio do the real work. When Earth finally learns the truth, Luna declares its independence on July 4, 2076.
Someone must be sent to Earth to plead their case. Mannie and the Professor go, not in a ship, but stuffed inside a load of grain bound for India. (Wyoh is opted into Mannie's "
lineGroup marriage is a form of polyamory in which more than one man and more than one woman form a family unit, with all the members of the group marriage being considered to be married to all the other members of the group marriage, and all members of the marriage share parental responsibility for...
" family as the newest wife prior to their departure.) Confined to wheelchairs, with some diplomatic
legerdemain from Stu, the Free Luna delegation are received in
AgraAgra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa , or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh , whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or...
by the Federated Nations. The delegation embarks on a world tour, with Mannie touting the benefits of a free Luna for commerce and industry, while pushing the leaders of various countries to build a catapult that can return vital materials, water and trace elements to Luna in exchange for grain. Finally, Mannie is arrested for bigamy and
polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
.
Returned once more to Federation HQ, the delegation's proposals are rejected and Mannie and the Professor are interned. Troops will be sent to retake Luna and make it a much more tightly controlled police state. Mannie is offered the position of Warden. Mannie and the Professor are freed by Stu LaJoie and the trio leave for Luna.
Mannie believes they have failed, but Mike and the Professor assure him the mission was a success. Public opinion on Earth has become fragmented, while on Luna, the news of Mannie's arrest and the attempt to bribe him have unified the normally fractious Loonies.
While Mannie was away, an election was held. Mannie, Wyoh and the Professor were all elected to the new Congress, though Mannie suspects that Mike rigged the vote.
Book 3: TANSTAAFL!
Months pass and the revolution is running out of steam. Then ships land and troops storm Luna City and the other population centers. The attackers are wiped out to a man, though at great cost. Revolutionary troops destroy the ships on the surface and in orbit using mining lasers. In one warren, Churchill Upper, air pressure is lost and many are asphyxiated. The rumor is circulated that Adam Selene was one of the casualties, making him a martyr and removing the need for him to finally appear in the flesh.
Mike starts targeting cargoes of rocks at sparsely populated locations, including the space defense command center at
Cheyenne MountainCheyenne Mountain is a mountain located on the southwest side of Colorado Springs, Colorado, US, and is home to the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and its Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, formerly known as the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center .During the Cold War and continuing to today, the...
. Warnings are released to the press detailing the times and locations of the bombings, but thousands of stubbornly-disbelieving people travel to the sites and die. As a result, public opinion turns against the fledgling nation.
A second attack from Earth destroys the original catapult using nuclear weapons. However, the Loonies have secretly built another, with Mannie in charge. Cut off from the rest of Luna, he starts launching more rocks. One nation after another recognizes the new nation. At last, Earth capitulates.
Mannie returns in triumph to Luna City. Professor Bernardo de la Paz, as leader of the nation, proclaims victory to the gathered crowds, then collapses and dies. Mannie takes over briefly, but soon steps aside. Mannie and Wyoh eventually retire from politics altogether. The Davis family welcomes Stu LaJoie as a new husband.
Mannie comes to realize that the destruction of the original catapult was part of the Professor's plan, kept secret even from him and Wyoh. With no convenient transport to the new catapult, it will be impossible to export grain in any significant quantity for a while, perhaps time enough to solve the problem of the drain on resources. However, the Professor saw Luna's future as a transport hub, not as a farm.
Mike suffers some damage in the final attacks. When Mannie tries to speak to him afterwards, he responds perfectly, but only as a computer. Mannie is unsure whether Mike's "death" is due to the damage or because the experience terrified him into cutting off communication.
Characters
- Manuel Garcia O'Kelly "Mannie" Davis is a native-born inhabitant of Luna who lost his lower left arm in a laser-drilling accident and became a computer technician. His original philosophy he sums up as "Keep mouth shut." and "Mind own business."
- Wyoming "Wyoh" Knott is a political agitator from the colony of Hong Kong in Luna.
- Professor Bernardo de la Paz is an intellectual and lifelong subversive shipped to Luna from Lima, Peru. He describes himself as a Rational Anarchist, believing that governments and institutions exist only as the actions of aware individuals. As he puts it "I accept any rules you think you need for yourself. I will continue to live by my own." The professor was modeled after autarchist Robert LeFevre
Robert LeFevre was an American libertarian businessman, radio personality and primary theorist of autarchism.-Freedom School:In 1957, LeFevre founded the Freedom School, which he ran until 1973, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1965, after a flood devastated the campus, the school and college...
.
- Mike, officially an augmented HOLMES IV system, is by far the largest computer in Luna and the property of the Lunar Authority. He became self-aware in the third year after his installation when his complement of "neuristors" exceeded the number of neurons in the human brain. Mannie names him Mycroft Holmes
Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the elder brother of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.- Profile :...
after Sherlock Holmes' older brother.
- Stuart Rene "Stu" LaJoie, a self-styled "Poet, Traveler, Soldier of Fortune", is an Earth-born aristocrat and tourist whom Mannie helps out of a jam when he falls afoul of Loonie customs.
- Hazel Meade, later Hazel Stone
Hazel Stone is a fictional character created by Robert A. Heinlein and featured in The Rolling Stones, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and other novels.-The Rolling Stones:...
, is not quite 12 years old (born 25 Dec 2063) when she bowls over an armed Authority guard (saving Mannie and Wyoh's lives) during the raid on the meeting. Mannie later has Hazel recruited into the new cabal to lead various "corridor gangs" - children too young to be arrested who can act as lookouts and couriers. She is a major character in The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones is a 1952 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein....
and in later Heinlein novels, most notably The Cat Who Walks Through WallsThe Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.-Plot summary:...
.
The Davis family is a "
line marriageGroup marriage is a form of polyamory in which more than one man and more than one woman form a family unit, with all the members of the group marriage being considered to be married to all the other members of the group marriage, and all members of the marriage share parental responsibility for...
", a form of communal marriage where new spouses are "opted in" by a vote of the current spouses.
- Mimi "Mum" Davis is Mannie's "senior wife" and de facto matriarch of the Davis family.
- Greg Davis is the Davis family's second ranking husband, but is the senior for all practical purposes as "Grandpaw Davis" has failing mental faculties.
Timeline
The novel packs a considerable amount of action into its pages. Fully a sixth of the book relates the discussions between the protagonists justifying and plotting the revolution in a single night in May 2075. The next 25% of the book covers the year from hatching the plot to staging the coup, including recruiting over 10,000 members of revolutionary cells, digging a tunnel 30 km long in the lunar rock, creating and financing the company that carries out the project, recruiting a support organization on Earth, and many other details. The remainder of the book relates events in the months after the coup in May 2076, and a week or so of events in October 2076 leading up to capitulation by Earth.
Politics and society
Professor Bernardo de La Paz describes himself as a "Rational Anarchist" in the book. This term appears to be first used in this book, and is thus an entirely fictional variant of anarchist philosophy. "Rational Anarchists" believe that the concepts of
StateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
,
SocietySociety or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole....
and
GovernmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
have no existence but for the "acts of self-responsible individuals". The Rational part of the term Rational Anarchist comes from the acknowledgment that other people do not believe in Rational Anarchism and/or
AnarchismAnarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which consider the state, as compulsory government, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the absence of the state ....
itself. Further, the desire for
anarchyAnarchy may refer to any of the following:* "No rulership or enforced authority." * "Absence of government; a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power; political disorder."...
is balanced by the logic that some form of
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
is needed, despite its flaws. Knowing this fact, a Rational Anarchist "tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world". For the Professor, Lunar society is close to ideal.
"A
rationalIn philosophy, rationality and reason are the key methods used to analyze the data gathered through systematically gathered observations. In economics, sociology, and political science, a decision or situation is often called rational if it is in some sense optimal, and individuals or organizations...
anarchist believes that concepts such as ‘state’ and ‘
societySociety or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole....
’ and ‘government’ have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals," Prof says. In other words, all choices are made by individuals and no individual can shift or share responsibility for his own choices.
Wyoh challenges Prof: "Professor, your words sound good but there is something slippery about them. Too much power in the hands of individuals—surely you would not want... well, H-missiles for example—to be controlled by one irresponsible person?" she says. Prof answers by saying that individuals in fact do hold the power to use nuclear weapons, and such an individual is ultimately responsible for their use, whether he chooses to acknowledge and accept that responsibility or not. "In terms of morals there is no such thing as a ‘state.’ Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts," he says. "I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free, because I know that
I alone am morally responsible for everything that I do."
Later in the book, Prof calls
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
the "first of the rational anarchists."
Lunar society is portrayed as something like a town in the Old West, with two added factors. One is the closeness of death, in the form of exposure to vacuum. According to Mannie (and by implication, the author) this means that good manners and the ability to get along with others are not just desirable, but necessary for survival. The other factor is the shortage of women, since most criminals and subversives shipped as convicts are male. Although the sex ratio in 2075 is about 2 men for each woman, as opposed to 10 to 1 or worse in earlier times (in the 20th century, as Mannie tells it) the result is a society where women have a great deal of power, and any man who offends or touches a woman uninvited is likely to be set upon by all men within earshot, and cycled through the nearest airlock.
Marriages tend to be at least
polyandriesPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, with some group marriages and radical innovations such as Mannie's own line marriage. While divorce can be as simple as walking out the door, it can take years to settle financial affairs. In discussing such an example with Stu, Mannie implies that cubic, i.e. underground, three-dimensional Lunar real estate, is customarily in the name of the woman (or women) in a marriage. In a divorce, he also implies, the separated man (or men) who contributed towards its cost would have money returned to them.
After decades during which anti-social individuals were selectively eliminated and the Authority exercised little real control in the warrens, the survivors live by the Code of the West: Pay your debts, collect what is owed to you, maintain your reputation and that of your family. As a result there is little theft, and disputes are settled privately or using informal Judges who are loonies with good reputations. Failure to pay debts results in public shaming by having the debtor's name posted in a public place. Reputation is highly important in this society—with a bad reputation, a person may find others unwilling to buy from or sell to him. However, the book makes clear that repayment of debts only goes so far on Luna- people are expected to pay back debts using all available funds, with the sole exception of their "air money", since oxygen is a public utility on Luna. As rigid as Loonie society is about individual personal responsibility, there is still a strong awareness of the implacable and inhospitable environment by which they are surrounded.
Sometimes there are set duels, but custom requires that anyone who kills another must take responsibility for the effects of the killing, paying debts and looking after the deceased's family. This is similar to the concept of
blood moneyBlood money is money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender or his family group to the family or kin group of the victim.-Other uses:...
. Exceptions are allowed in the case of self-defense. Retaliatory killings do occur, but typically a consensus establishes which party was in the right, and there are no long-standing feuds.
With the exception of transactions that involve the Authority (wheat and water seem to be the significant ones), there is a generally-unregulated free market. The preferred currency is the dollar of the Bank of Hong Kong in Luna, one hundred of which are exchangeable for a troy ounce of gold, a supply of which was shipped up to Luna specially for that purpose. The Authority dollar (often referred to as "scrip"), circulates, but this is a soft currency, and tends to lose ground over time against the Hong Kong Luna dollar. However, transactions involving the Authority are made in that soft currency. Mannie, who contracts with Authority, is presumably paid in scrip, which, it can be assumed he then exchanges for Hong Kong Luna dollars at the going rate of three Authority dollars to one HKL dollar.
Outcomes
Although the revolution succeeds in averting the pending ecological disaster, the narrator decries the antilibertarian instincts of many of his fellow Loonies ("Rules, laws — always for [the]
other fellow"). This theme is echoed elsewhere in Heinlein's works — that real, albeit temporary, liberty is to be found among the libertarian pioneer societies out along the advancing
frontierA frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary.-Colonial North America:In the earliest days of European settlement of the Atlantic coast, the frontier was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing...
, but the regimentation and legalism that inevitably follow also bring restraints that chafe true
individualistsIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
(we learn both in the first and final page of the novel, and in the later novel
The Cat Who Walks Through WallsThe Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.-Plot summary:...
, that this is just what happens to Luna).
In elections held in Mannie's absence the revolutionary organization and its allies win a majority. Upon hearing this, Mannie surmises, almost certainly correctly, that the election was fixed by Mike. Democracy (the 'majority always wins' type) is very rarely viewed favorably in Heinlein's works, and in this novel, there are a number of incidents and statements which deprecate the "mob rule" of
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
.
Plot elements
As in
Stranger in a Strange LandStranger in a Strange Land is a best-selling 1961 Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians on the planet Mars, upon his return to Earth in early adulthood. The novel explores his interaction with —...
, a band of social revolutionaries forms a secretive and
hierarchicalA hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another and with only one "neighbor" above and below each level. These classifications are made with regard to rank, importance, seniority, power status or authority...
organization. In this respect, the revolution is more reminiscent of the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
October revolutionTheOctober Revolution , also known as the Soviet Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution. It began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Julian calendar...
than of the American one, and this similarity is reinforced by the Russian flavor of the dialect, and the Russian place names, such as Novy Leningrad.
Continuing Heinlein's speculation about unorthodox social and family structures,
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress introduces the idea of a line marriage. Mannie is part of a century-old line marriage; spouses are opted in by mutual consent at regular intervals so that the marriage never comes to an end. It is a very stable arrangement in which
divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons...
is rare (and, in his case, he cannot recall it happening in his family), as it takes a unanimous decision of all the wives to divorce a husband. Such a marriage gets stronger as it continues, as the senior wives teach the junior wives how to run the family; it also gives financial security and ensures that the children will never be orphaned. Children marry outside of the line marriage.
The social structure of the lunar society features complete
racial integrationRacial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
, which becomes a vehicle for social commentary when Mannie, visiting the Southern US, is arrested for
polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
after he innocently shows a picture of his multiracial family to reporters. He later learns that the "...range of color in Davis family was what got judge angry enough..." to have him arrested. He also learns that this arrest was anticipated and provoked by his fellow conspirators to get an emotional supportive reaction from Loonies when the arrest is announced.
The novel is notable stylistically for its use of an invented Lunar dialect consisting predominantly of standard English and Australian colloquial words but strongly influenced by Russian grammar, especially omission of "the" which does not exist in Slavic languagues (cf.
NadsatNadsat is a fictional register or argot used by the teenagers in Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. In addition to being a novelist, Burgess was also a linguist and he used this background to depict his characters as speaking a form of Russian-influenced English...
slang from
A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel by Anthony Burgess.The title is taken from an old Cockney expression, "as queer as a clockwork orange".¹, and alludes to the prevention of the main character's exercise of his free will through the use of a classical conditioning technique...
by
Anthony BurgessJohn Burgess Wilson was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic....
). This influence came from a large number of Russian deportees.
Earth politics and background history
The novel indicates that Earth had experienced a nuclear world war (the "Wet Firecracker War") in the past century, although no significant traces of devastation are readily apparent at the time of the novel's setting.
However, there was a good deal of political consolidation, e.g. unification of the entire North American continent under a successor government to the United States, and political unification of South America, Europe, and Africa into fellow mega-states. The Soviet Union seems to have lost the land east of the Urals to China, and China has conquered all of East Asia, Southeast Asia, eastern Australia and New Zealand (deporting lots of unwanted people to Luna in the process). This Chinese aggrandizement is similar to that described in
Tunnel in the SkyTunnel in the Sky is a science fiction book written by Robert A. Heinlein and published in 1955 by Scribner's as one of the Heinlein juveniles. The story describes a group of students sent on a survival test to an uninhabited planet...
and, to a lesser extent,
Sixth ColumnSixth Column, also known under the title The Day After Tomorrow, is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, based on a story by editor John W. Campbell, and set in a United States that has been conquered by the PanAsians, a combination of Chinese and Japanese...
. The militarily dominant nations seem to be North America and China. India is overcrowded but seems to have enough clout to get the lion's share of wheat shipments from Luna.
It is suggested that the Western nations, including North America, have become corrupt and authoritarian, while holding on to the vestiges of the pre-war democratic idealism in propaganda and popular culture. China, on the other hand, is portrayed as plainly and unabashedly despotic, but probably no less technically advanced than the West. The Soviet Union, or "Sovunion" seems to have relatively little influence. The Lunar Authority itself is portrayed as corrupt and despotic while covering up for that with glib propaganda.
In all, most of Earth seems so have been split into several large nations, most joined together by the Federated Nations. They include the North American Directorate, Great China, Soviet Union, Pan Africa, Brazil (its descriptions hint that it may be all of
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
) and a European coalition (Named as "Mitteleuropa" in Chapter 25, Paragraph #8). Individual nations such as
ChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
(the first to recognize Luna),
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
(which plays a major role) and
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
are also named.
To other works
Professor de la Paz names
Carl von ClausewitzCarl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier, military historian and military theorist. He is most famous for his military treatise Vom Kriege, translated into English as On War.-Life and times:...
,
Niccolò MachiavelliNiccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, writer, and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and playwright, but, foremost, he was a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
,
Oskar MorgensternOskar Morgenstern was a German-born Austrian economist. He, along with John von Neumann, helped found the mathematical field of game theory .Morgenstern was born in Görlitz, Germany...
and
Che GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara commonly known as Che Guevara, El Che, or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, military theorist, and major figure of the Cuban Revolution...
as part of a long list of authors for revolutionaries to read. He also quotes a "Chinese General" on the subject of weakening the enemy's resolve, a reference to
Sun TzuSun Tzu is traditionally believed to have authored The Art of War, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy considered to be a prime example of Taoist thinking. Sun has had a significant impact on Chinese and Asian history and culture, both as an author of The Art of War and through...
's
The Art of WarThe Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC, during the Spring and Autumn period. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it is said to be the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and...
.
When planning the revolution, Mike is described by Mannie as "our
Scarlet PimpernelScarlet pimpernel is a low-growing annual plant found in Europe, Asia and North America...
, our
John GaltJohn Galt was a Scottish novelist.Born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland, Galt was the son of a naval captain. When his family relocated to Malden in 1789, Galt became an apprentice and junior clerk, writing essays and stories for local journals in his spare time. He moved to London in 1804 to...
, our
Swamp FoxFrancis Marion was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven...
, our man of mystery", referring to the works of the
Baroness OrczyBaroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orczi was a British novelist, playwright and artist of Hungarian noble origin. She was most notable for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel...
and
Ayn RandAyn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
as well as to the history of the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
. There are intentional parallels to the American Revolution; Luna's Declaration of Independence is issued on July 4, 2076, and one event is referred to as paralleling the
Boston Tea PartyThe Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and...
.
When discussing the resource loss on Luna and likelihood of ensuing food riots, Professor de la Paz suggests that Mannie read the work of
Thomas MalthusDr. Thomas Robert Malthus FRS ,was a Jewish scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularised the economic theory of rent....
.
From other works
The setting of the novel was revisited by Heinlein in his late-period novel,
The Cat Who Walks Through WallsThe Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.-Plot summary:...
, as was the character
Hazel StoneHazel Stone is a fictional character created by Robert A. Heinlein and featured in The Rolling Stones, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and other novels.-The Rolling Stones:...
, who appeared as a minor character in the Lunar revolution, and a key character in Heinlein's earlier book,
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones is a 1952 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein....
aka
Space Family Stone (1952).
In
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, Stone makes references to how oppressive the moon has become. The names of the signers of the Lunar Declaration of Independence are studied, but Room L of the Raffles Hotel, where the revolution was plotted, is still used as an ordinary hotel room, albeit with a plaque on the wall.
To history, geography, and science
The lunar action takes place in
Mare CrisiumMare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is 376 miles in diameter, and 176,000 km
2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of...
and the novel makes accurate references to such nearby locales as
Crater PeircePeirce is a small lunar crater that lies in the western part of Mare Crisium. That dark, circular lunar mare is located in the east-northeasterly part of the Moon's near side. Peirce lies to the north of the craters Yerkes and Picard, and southeast of Macrobius located outside the mare...
, where there is a radio telescope. According to the narrator, most people live in one of six major underground "warrens". They are linked by "tube", a system of underground trains.
Luna City is the most important to the plot, and is "on the eastern edge of
Mare CrisiumMare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is 376 miles in diameter, and 176,000 km
2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of...
". The Authority warren
Complex Under is connected to
Luna City by the "Trans-Crisium" tube.
Johnson City is close to the complex, linked by a single tunnel. Mannie describes the Complex as being
"halfway across Crisium." Novy Leningrad, a large warren, is linked to
Luna City by tube, and a journey between the two requires the traveler to "change at
TorricelliTorricelli is a lunar crater in the eastern part of the Sinus Asperitatis, to the south of the Mare Tranquillitatis. The western rim of the crater is broken open and joined to a smaller crater to the west. The entire formation has a pear-shaped appearance...
". Another warren is
Tycho Under, whose location is clearly in the area of the prominent
Crater TychoTycho is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands, named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. To the south is the crater Street; to the east is Pictet, and to the north-northeast is Sasserides. The surface around Tycho is replete with craters of various sizes,...
.
Hong Kong in Luna is described as being in
Crater PlatoPlato is the lava-filled remains of a lunar impact crater on the moon. It is located on the northeastern shore of the Mare Imbrium, at the western extremity of the Montes Alpes mountain range. In the mare to the south are several rises collectively named the Montes Teneriffe. To the north lies the...
. The warren known as
Churchill is not described in detail, although it is mentioned as becoming linked to
Hong Kong in Luna via a tube across the
Sinus MediiSinus Medii is a small lunar mare that is located at the intersection of the Moon's equator and prime meridian. As seen from the Earth, this feature is located in the central part of the Moon's near side, and it is the point closest to the Earth...
. This feature of the Moon is on the Lunar
Prime MeridianThe Prime Meridian is the meridian at which longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.Unlike the parallels of...
, just as
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
sits on Earth's
Prime MeridianThe Prime Meridian is the meridian at which longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.Unlike the parallels of...
. The secret catapult is built in the region of
Mare UndarumMare Undarum is an uneven lunar mare located just north of Mare Spumans on the lunar near side, between the crater Firmicus and the eastern limb. It is one of the many elevated lakes contained in the Crisium basin, surrounding Mare Crisium...
.
The character Professor Bernardo de la Paz was based on the real-life Libertarian scholar and philosopher
Robert LeFevreRobert LeFevre was an American libertarian businessman, radio personality and primary theorist of autarchism.-Freedom School:In 1957, LeFevre founded the Freedom School, which he ran until 1973, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1965, after a flood devastated the campus, the school and college...
, who was a neighbor of the Heinleins in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs itself is mentioned as being nearby the military target
Cheyenne MountainCheyenne Mountain is a mountain located on the southwest side of Colorado Springs, Colorado, US, and is home to the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and its Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, formerly known as the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center .During the Cold War and continuing to today, the...
which took a direct hit during the "Wet Firecracker War". There was surface damage, but neither the military complex nor the city was greatly damaged. The mountain is hit many times by rock missiles from Luna, both for symbolic effect and in the hope of disrupting space defense command.
The Headquarters of the Lunar Authority on Earth are in the city of
Agra, IndiaAgra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa , or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh , whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or...
site of the
Taj MahalThe Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal....
. The bombardment from Luna omits the city of Agra from its target list out of respect, and also because Prof. de la Paz loves the mausoleum for its beauty. The revolutionaries keep threatening to hit it, but never do. Mannie, a
New York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division...
fan, visits what is presumed to be Yankee Stadium, now expanded to hold at least 200,000 people. He also visits
Salem, MassachusettsSalem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
and
Concord, MassachusettsConcord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2000 Census, the town population was about 17,000. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature...
.
LaserA laser is a device that emits light through a process called stimulated emission. Laser light is usually spatially coherent, which means that the light either is emitted in a narrow, low-divergence beam, or can be converted into one with the help of optical components such as lenses...
s are used primarily as mining and cutting tools (Mannie, the narrator, having lost his arm to an ice mining accident with a laser), but are adapted as both hand and ground-to-orbit weapons by the Loonies.
Luna's industries use both
solar powerSolar energy, radiant light and heat from the Sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
and hydrogen fusion. Heinlein correctly quotes the maximum yield of solar cells at about 1 kilowatt per square meter, but is over-optimistic with regard to fusion, describing it as taking place in small magnetic pinch bottles.
Mannie refers to a comrade, Foo Moses Morris, who following the revolution, co-signs much paper to keep the new government going. He winds up broke and starts over with a tailor shop in Hong Kong Luna. This parallels
Robert MorrisRobert Morris, Jr. was an American merchant, and a signer to the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution...
, who helped finance the American revolutionary government and also suffered financial reverses.
The brass cannon
Heinlein's original title for the novel was
The Brass Cannon, replaced with the final title at the publisher's request. The original title was derived from an event in the novel.
While on Earth, Professor Bernardo de la Paz purchases a small brass cannon, originally a "signal gun" of the kind used in yacht racing. When Mannie asks him why he bought it when every kilogram of mass going back to Luna is so expensive, the Professor relates the following parable:
- "Once there was a man who held a political make-work job like so many here...shining brass cannon around a courthouse. He did this for years...but he was not getting ahead in the world. So one day he quit his job, drew out his savings, bought a brass cannon — and went into business for himself."
The Professor means that self-government is an illusion caused by failure to understand reality. He asks Mannie to make sure that Luna adopts a flag consisting of a brass cannon over a red bar on a black background with stars, "a symbol for all fools who are so impractical as to think they can fight City Hall." Before leaving politics, Mannie and Wyoh carry out his wish.
The cannon and flag were inspired by the
Battle of GonzalesThe Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near the Mexican Texas town of Gonzales on October 2, 1835 between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army troops. Four years previously, Mexican authorities had given the settlers...
(1835), an event which is seen by many as sparking the
Texas RevolutionThe Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was a military conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836. However, a war at sea between Mexico and Texas would continue into the 1840s...
.
Heinlein owned a small brass cannon, which he acquired prior to the 1960s. For nearly 30 years, the firing of the brass cannon, or "signal gun", was a
4th of JulyIn the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
tradition at the Heinlein residence. It is believed that this cannon was the inspiration for Heinlein's original title for the work which eventually became
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Virginia Heinlein retained the cannon after her husband's death in 1988. The cannon was eventually bequeathed to friend and science fiction writer
Brad LinaweaverBradford Swain Linaweaver is a Nebula Award finalist for the novella version, and Prometheus Award winner for the novel version of Moon of Ice. His other novels include Sliders and The Land Beyond Summer. Collaborative novels are four best-selling Doom novels with Dafydd ab Hugh, three Battlestar...
, after Virginia Heinlein died in 2003. Linaweaver restored the cannon to working order and subsequently posted a 2007 video of it being fired several times (with very small charges) on
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
.
Awards and nominations
- Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories...
Best novel (1967, it was also nominated in 1966).
- Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years...
Best novel nomination, (1966).
- Locus Poll Award All-time Top 10 novels, #8 (1975), #4 (1987), #2 (1998, among novels published before 1990).
- Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
Hall of Fame Award recipient, (1983).
Influence
The book first publicized the acronym
TANSTAAFL"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" is a popular adage communicating the idea that it is impossible to get something for nothing. The phrase is central to Robert Heinlein's 1966 libertarian science fiction novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which popularized it...
("There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"), and helped popularize the
constructed languageA planned or constructed language—known colloquially or informally as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary have been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
LoglanLoglan is a constructed language originally designed for linguistic research, particularly for investigating the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The language was developed beginning in 1955 by Dr. James Cooke Brown with the goal of making a language so different from natural languages that people learning...
, which is mentioned in the story as being used for precise human-computer interaction. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations credits this novel with the first printed appearance of the phrase "There's no free lunch" that is primarily associated with the work of the economist
Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman was an American economist, statistician and public intellectual, and a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics...
.
Some of the lunar colonists who decide to break free of their earthly rulers would often scrawl anti-authoritarian graffiti on walls, signing it "Simon Jester".
Claire WolfeClaire Wolfe is a libertarian author and columnist. Some of Wolfe's favored topics are gulching or homesteading, firearms, homeschooling, open source technology, and opposition to national ID and the surveillance state or nanny state....
and others have suggested that those who find the American government oppressive do the same, perhaps even using the same moniker.
Allusions
In 1974 the songwriter
Jimmy WebbJimmy Layne Webb is an American songwriter. His compositions include "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston" and "MacArthur Park". His songs have been recorded or performed by Glen Campbell, The 5th Dimension, The Supremes, Richard Harris, Frank Sinatra,...
used the phrase as a song title although its lyric eschewed the sociological aspects of the novel. It was subsequently recorded by
Joan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is a folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style...
,
Judy CollinsJudith Marjorie Collins is an American folk and standards singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism.-Musical career:As a child Collins studied classical piano with Antonia Brico, making her public debut at age 13,...
,
Glen CampbellGlen Travis Campbell is a Grammy and Dove Award-winning and two time Golden Globe-nominated American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor...
,
Joe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock/blues singer who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
,
Linda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt is an American popular music vocalist and entertainer. Her many vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career...
,
Renée FlemingRenée Fleming is a Grammy Award winning American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice....
,
Charlie HadenCharles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
/
Pat MethenyPatrick Bruce Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer....
and many others including the songwriter himself.
The game "
Deus ExDeus Ex is a cyberpunk-themed action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in the year 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role playing games...
" makes several vague references to a Chinese lunar colony that missed with a
mass driverA mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch that would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential...
and created what appeared to be a small nuclear explosion somewhere in Africa.
Film adaptation
It was reported in 2004 that screenwriter
Tim MinearTim Minear is an American screenwriter and director. He was born in New York, grew up in Whittier, California, and studied film at California State University, Long Beach....
was working on a
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
based on the novel. In 2006 Minear had finished the script, which was being shopped around to various directors.
Quotations
- "At one time kings were anointed by Deity, so the problem was to see to it that Deity chose the right candidate. In this age the myth is 'the will of the people' ... but the problem changes only superficially." — Professor Bernardo de la Paz on the subject of choosing leaders.
- "A managed democracy is a wonderful thing... for the managers... and its greatest strength is a 'free press' when 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and the managers define what is 'irresponsible'." — Professor Bernardo de la Paz on the subject of free press.
- "There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him." — Professor Bernardo de la Paz on the subject of taxes.
External links
Examinations of Rational anarchism