The Heritage of Heinlein by Thomas D. Clareson

Author:Thomas D. Clareson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2014-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Besides satisfying the passions of his Cold War audience, however, Heinlein involves readers in another, larger political/personal conflict. In fact, since the collapse of the political system The Puppet Masters attacks, readers can pay more attention to the system the novel claims to defend: American democracy. One repeated theory about the slugs is that they are essentially one organism—splitting like an amoeba when more human hosts become available and limited in communication when its parts are physically separated, but never developing separate personalities. If the slugs are bad because they deny individuality, it follows that expressing one’s individuality is good and so is a system that permits a practical maximum of independence. If this is so, the slug-human struggle should demonstrate democracy’s superiority to any collective philosophy.

The problem with this optimistic interpretation is that the slugs almost win. How close they come to victory shows democracy’s weakness; Americans are victorious in spite of, not because of, the way they govern themselves. Most of the government people whom Sam, Mary, and the Old Man have to work with are politicians. They got into office in the first place because voters wanted to give away their civic responsibility. Now the officials represent the worst of that irresponsible attitude, being too self-centered, complacent, and stubborn to respond effectively to the slugs’ subversion. Sam is in awe of American institutions—incredibly so for a grown man who’s been working as a secret agent; however, he soon is disillusioned by the short-sighted foolishness of the U.S. government’s behavior. Fortunately, he can rely on someone who’s capable of seeing a situation whole and then acting decisively and unselfishly—the Old Man, whose relationship to his family of agents and to the American ideal Sam describes very early in the novel:

If I had had any sense, I’d have quit [spying] and taken a working job.

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