tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post71416919300968966..comments2023-07-01T01:52:41.798-07:00Comments on Guys Lit Wire: The TripodsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post-24526147809335812222021-03-29T13:42:41.613-07:002021-03-29T13:42:41.613-07:00I first came across The Tripod books when I was ag...I first came across The Tripod books when I was aged twelve in the mid-1980s and, as you can imagine, I remember being fascinated by this strange idea that when you reach the age of fourteen you had to be capped. That this must happen to boys when they finally reach their fourteenth birthdays – before they can begin to think and to reason for themselves. Indeed the Masters even considered capping all boys at the age of twelve, not only to be sure of it, but also because a younger child is less resistant and less questioning. More curious and thus more willing. In the end they decide against doing this as a child’s skull is not yet fully formed or developed. Capping Day is therefore a mandatory annual “coming-of-age” ritual for each and every boy. One in which they must all take part. Thus the head of each son and daughter is shaved before they are all assembled together to be capped. One by one. Every child is proudly presented by their parents as a new slave for The Tripods. As I child I could not understand why parents would do this. Until I realised the parents had been capped when they were children. After being presented before The Tripod, the boy is lifted up gently inside the capsule so that a cap of metal wiring can be successfully enmeshed and embedded deeply into his skull and brain. Interestingly before children are capped they often question it. “Why? I do not see why it has to happen. I would sooner stay as I am.” Indeed what teenager has not said to himself: “I will not believe in what adults believe in. I will rip up the rules of society. I will never conform like them.” Therefore as the child is taken to be capped he must be very gently reassured, encouraged and, most importantly of all, made curious by the adults as to what Capping is. “You can’t understand now, but you will understand after it happens. I can’t describe it. You won’t be hurt. As a person I am happy now.” Indeed when boys are returned to their parents, it soon becomes clear they no longer question as teenagers but are happy and contented adults. Yet another generation of future slaves successfully programmed and educated to serve, obey and even worship the current social, economic and political order. Their new Master. Their God, their Ruler, their State. Sound familiar. I recommend that parents today do encourage their children to read these subversive books. Particularly boys aged twelve.Neil Weltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14136012163614236311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post-10011168120980351112009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:002009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00Sam -- Thanks for the comments. The girls-under-g...Sam -- Thanks for the comments. The girls-under-glass image works fine in and of itself. But the rest of the imagery regarding the Masters seems more deliberately <I>alien</I>. The museum and the girls were too familiar, directly lifted from human experience and then inverted to make a political point. That's why it came off as heavy-handed to me.<BR/><BR/>PW -- Thanks for your response. I've heard the Cold War interpretation before and first read these as a kid in the same political environment as you. But I have trouble connecting it. The Masters don't seem particularly Communist to me (they don't seem at all capitalist either). They don't actually seem ideologically driven at all, except in their belief in being superior to humans. Furthermore, it's the rebels, not the Masters, who in Pool of Fire, abandon democracy, albeit temporarily, in the interests of order. So, for me, the whole Cold War paranoia thing falls apart. But maybe I'm over thinking. Anyway, for me it reads much better as a general argument against mindless obedience to any dominant force.<BR/><BR/>I too would be interested in what the 7th graders would have to say.mr chompchomphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02120045873445890949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post-17880693396594894682009-03-03T20:32:00.000-08:002009-03-03T20:32:00.000-08:00You know, I never would have thought of the metaph...You know, I never would have thought of the metaphor you came up with for these books.<BR/>I read them all when I was in 7th grade -- but that was 1977, still in the depths of the Cold War, and I read them as metaphor for such. Samuel Yowd (or is it Youd? I can't remember, But John Christopher was only a pseudonym, as you probably know), in my mind, was writing a kids' version of 1984, mixed with a bit of the short story "By The Waters of Babylon" in all its post-apocylyptic fineness. I always assumed the message was "watch out for the Soviets; they're trying to take away your freedoms" because that was the underlying message in a good deal of pop culture at that time. (Think James Bond movies and "The Russians ARe Coming")<BR/>I was a hater of sci-fi, but I loved these books.<BR/>I'm glad I read your take on them. It never occurred to me what post-Cold War kids would make of them. And that's bizarre -- because these books are on my 7th grade reading list where I teach. I'll have to ask my students what they think the "message" might be.<BR/>What fun!A Paperback Writerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10155962941590663738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post-36842004414233154672009-03-03T12:54:00.000-08:002009-03-03T12:54:00.000-08:00Arthur C. Clarke has written that no trilogy shoul...<I>Arthur C. Clarke has written that no trilogy should contain more than four books.</I><BR/><BR/>With the Hitchhiker's Trilogy as the exception that (sort of) proves the rule.Seth Christenfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17782151625611528850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post-21157087593036112012009-03-03T12:03:00.000-08:002009-03-03T12:03:00.000-08:00I'm very glad you wrote about the Tripods! I hope ...I'm very glad you wrote about the Tripods! I hope you won't mind if I agree with every compliment and disagree with the criticisms...<BR/><BR/>The Masters' use of the girls, for example, is an image that has lasted not only in my mind, but in the minds of others who read the book as kids. Rather than heavy-handed, I'd say powerful.<BR/><BR/>Of course, if you're looking for disturbing moral ambiguity, you need look no further than Christopher's "Sword of the Spirits" trilogy.Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09492841891625994218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893796119628724760.post-91053175867966389052009-03-03T09:04:00.000-08:002009-03-03T09:04:00.000-08:00It's fair to say these books made me a reader.It's fair to say these books made me a reader.Andrew Karrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618713436530721797noreply@blogger.com