Re: Phonemes

"Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:teskg213yuqh.c2lsuaayw5xl$.dlg@xxxxxxxxxx:

(snip)

>> He must have had a reason for making the guy Negro halfway through the
>> book. What can it have been?

I believe that Juan being black was a claim made by Delany. No one else has
ever said it, to the best of my knowledge.

>
> He didn't. The kid's surname is <Rico>, and as I recall we
> learn near the very *end* of the book -- not halfway through
> -- that he's of Filipino descent.
>
>>>> If he wanted to make an anti-racist statement, he could have had the
>>>> guy experience racism.

In addition to the hints about Rod Walker's race in _Tunnel In The Sky_,
Colin Campbell's race in _The Number Of The Beast_, Juan Rico's race in
_Starship Troopers_, Heinlein consistently made low-key anti-racist comments
throughout his whole writing career. This was normally done by trying to show
that the future would have people of mixed races working, (and often, dying),
together. Of course, to do this, he would use stereotypical names. Examine,
for instance, the names on the plaque dedicated to the victims of the atomic
disaster on the moon in "Gulf", the crew of the Kilroy Was Here in _Space
Cadet_, the crew of the mud turtle in _Puppet Masters_ and so on. I have
heard Jewish readers comment on what the inclusion of a Jewish main character
in _Rocket Ship Galileo_ meant to them.

He also made very strong public statements about racism at his GOH speech in
1941. A transcript was published in _Requiem:New Collected Works by Robert A.
Heinlein and tributes to the Grand Master_, Tor, 1992, edited by Yoji Kondo.

Heinlein wrote stories not only to entertain, and make a living out of them,
but he strongly felt that one of his primary purposes was to get people to
think about things for themselves, so many of his techniques made use of
unconscious assumptions on the part of the reader and then would present
something which would challenge those assumptions.

In my case, when I read _Tunnel In The Sky_, I made an unconscious
assumption, which was wrong, but, nevertheless, because it was in opposition
to other unconscious assumptions that I held due to my being raised in a very
racist environment, I was forced to think about those assumptions and in the
end, it helped me to overcome my background. Proof[1] has been found that Rod
Walker was indeed black, even though the textual hints were very susceptible
to interpretations both ways. I 'knew' that he was white and it was his
relationship to Caroline Msiyeni, who was explicitly described as black,
which made me 'take out my soul and examine it', as RAH often wrote. I can
intellectually accept that Rod was black, but emotionally, I still have a
problem with it because of how that assumed relationship affected me.
Frankly, I think that RAH would have been happy and proud that I did so. That
kind of thing was what he desired on the part of his readers.

>
>>> That was done in _Farnham's Freehold_. It would have been out of
>>> place in ST.
>

IMO, _Farnham's Freehold_ was not so much about racism as it was about
'power' and the corruption of power which can occur in any race or people.


I have not taken part in this discussion much, because, as a newcomer, I
didn't feel it my place to prolong off-topic discussions, even though I am
always interested in discussing Heinlein. Please feel free to post on
alt.fan.heinlein, but *please* don't cross-post. It usually annoys people on
both newsgroups, especially when the groups are mainly unrelated.

I know, I started it, but that was done strictly to ask a linguistic
question.

So, please carry on or not. I will train to restrain myself from jumping in
further. ;-)>

[1] Do a Google on alt.fan.heinlein and search for Rod Walker race fan
letter. If that doesn't find me let me know and I'll get a specific URL for
you.
--
The Heinlein Readers Group meets frequently to discuss
Robert Anson Heinlein, his works and life
See http://heinleinsociety.org/readersgroup/index.html#info
to visit the Archives, or for information on participation..

David Wright Sr.
http://home.alltel.net/dwrighsr/index.html
To e-mail me, remove 't' from dwrightsr

.

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