Huntsville-Madison County Public Library discussion

The 14th Colony Lunatic Revolution of 2076

I first read Robert A. Heinlein’s ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ when I was 14, at the end of the Summer of ’69 – the summer of the Moon landing, The Manson murders, and Woodstock. It was also the summer that I first read science fiction classics recommended by my cousin: Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ‘Tarzan of the Apes’’; Ray Bradbury’s ‘Illustrated Man’,‘Fahrenheit 451’, and ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ (‘Martian Chronicles’ was strangely out of print for the last part of 1969); Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’; I was soon to read H.G. Wells and more ERB. Wedged between those at the end of the summer and the beginning of 9th grade I read Heinlein’s ‘Mistress’.

It was unlike anything I had read up to that point. I just re-read it for the first time in 56 years and it was as though I had only absorbed the vague imprint of the novel. About 95 % of it went over my head. To put it simply, it is a tale of the Declaration of Independence of the Moon from the Earth. In 2075, the Moon is a former penal colony, much like Australia was for the UK and much like the 13 colonies of North America were for Great Britain in the 1700’s.

The exiles from Earth that have lived more than a few years on the Moon, as well as their descendants, are rendered incapable of surviving long on the heavier gravity of Earth. Hydroponically grown wheat is harvested in the “warrens” under the Moon’s surface and shipped back to Earth via electromagnetic catapults. The colony is governed by a Warden of the Federated Nations Lunar Authority who ensures that the wheat is regularly exported back to Earth.

The novel is narrated by a computer mechanic named Manuel O’Kelley Davis, who expresses himself in a pidgin syntax that regularly omits pronouns and intermittent prepositions. This style takes a bit of getting used to and is puzzling as no other character speaks this way. Mannie himself only writes in this style but speaks in mostly grammatical English. A few years later I would read ‘A Clockwork Orange’, written in a ‘Nazdat’ dialect invented by Anthony Burgess for his futuristic delinquent narrator Alex and his ‘droog’ friends as well as the convoluted stream of consciousness narrative syntax of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ and most of William Faulkner’s novels, so Mannie and his pidgin narrative would be no challenge re-reading after those novels.

Mannie is the maintenance man for the Moon’s Lunar Authority master computer – High-Optional Logical Multi-Evaluating Supercomputer (HOLMES), named after Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock’s brother), and nicknamed Mike. Mannie develops a close relationship with Mike, who has the reasoning power of speech and can also learn. One of the things Mike learns is how to start a revolution.

Mannie goes with Mike (via hidden recorder) to an anti-Lunar Authority political meeting, soon to be raided by police. Mannie escapes with Wyoming Knott, a tall, blonde, voluptuous political activist, along with an elderly Professor, Bernardo La Paz, an esteemed Lunar educator. Mike calculates that if the current trend continues, food riots will start in seven years, cannibalism in nine. Prof, as he’s called, says that they must stop exporting hydroponic wheat immediately or their ice-mined resources will be exhausted. The trio of Mannie, Wyoh, and Prof, along with Mannie, form the foundation of a revolutionary army.

Revolution builds with surprising momentum as latent rebellion is quickly unleashed. When Terran troopers are sent to quell revolutionary unrest, the rebels become more united and overthrow the Warden and the local Lunar Authority. The catapults that have been used for wheat shipments are converted into weapons hurling lunar rocks down upon the Earth. Heinlein uses this upward/downward gravitational analogy to depict missile firing upon the Earth, a concept that really doesn’t make sense to me but supports his visual imagery.

‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ possesses most of Heinlein’s trademarks – the libertarian ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ anarchy, coupled with the Lunar motto, “Tanstafl” – “There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch” i.e. you get what you pay for. Heinlein also presents a curious mixture of sexual progressivism and misogynism. Men outnumber women two to one so polyandry and polygamy are standard practice. Mannie is part of an extended family with senior wives, junior wives, brother husbands, etc. Wyoming marries into the collective union and most of the mentions of her include a reference to her beauty.

Mannie is an Everyman character that had previously considered himself apolitical although circumstances thrust him into positions of authority. He definitely lacks the polish of a politician and speaks before he thinks on many occasions.

Mike is in some ways the most complex character in the novel. He has reasoning and learning power, the ability to assume various identities, both male and female, and he makes pre-emptive unilateral decisions without Mannie’s knowledge yet ostensibly with the Professor’s. This extreme power on the part of the computer flows subliminally, perhaps more overtly in the wake of ‘2001’s’ HAL 9000 and other diabolic AI’s. Presumably, Clarke and Kubrick were creating HAL during the same time period that Heinlein was creating Mike. Spoiler: Mike is NOT as neurotic and certainly not psychotic like HAL, so you will be disappointed if you’re expecting that kind of AI megalomania.

I have read seven or eight of Heinlein’s novels (all over 50 years ago) so I have a good idea what his style is. Less poetic than Bradbury, less satiric than Vonnegut. He has a cut to the chase manner as if all of these far-fetched fantastic ideas are just episodes from a normal course of events. He has an authentic knowledge of physics and chemistry but I get the sense that he knows just enough to sound like he knows what he’s talking about even when describing something that’s completely implausible. He does have the knack to keep the narrative flowing, convenient when you’re a fiction writer. I have not read any of his juvenile novels, although I’ve read a couple that were originally conceived as juveniles. It seemed incongruous with his later predilection for sexual exploration. Now it’s all part of the total Heinlein package.

‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ is inventive and well-executed with a confident narrative voice. Like a master magician, he distracts you with narrative baubles so you don’t notice the seams hidden in plain sight. Sixty years on from its first publication, it’s probably as fitting an entry point with Heinlein as any.

Great review! Other Heinleins have generally not impressed me, but several remain on my TBR on the strength of my father's recommendations; this one in particular is his favorite novel. And now I have more reasons to bump it up!

Thanks, David!