Not one of Mr. Heinlein’s greatest works, but since anything he wrote is superior to the vast majority of other science fiction novels Citizen of the Galaxy is still well worth reading.Thorby, the hero of Citizen of the Galaxy, is sold into slavery as a small child after space pirates kill his parents. He is eventually bought, freed and ‘adopted’ by "Pop" Baslim, a spy, operating undercover as a beggar, who is gathering information to break the slave trade. At its core, Citizen of the Galaxy explores the different layers of human society and what it means to be a part of any particular layer. Slave, beggar, merchant, soldier, billionaire, as Thorby becomes a part of each world, world’s that in some ways can be as strange to someone who has never lived them as any alien planet, we come to realize at the same time how much each societal group actually has in common. Each group has its hierarchy and, even the slaves in their own way, has a them/us pride in status. To be a part of each group is to be constrained by its rules, to relish in its freedoms and struggle under its burdens and responsibilities. And finally, each group has its winners and losers, devils and saints and all the ranges in between.
At the same time, one of the differences between the groups that struck me as especially interesting is that the ‘higher’ in society Thorby climbed the less redeeming qualities people seemed to have. As a beggar the people around Thorby who had so little looked out for each other and cared for each other the most. The merchant’s cared for each other less as individuals then the beggar class did, but believed in value received for value given and possessed a strong sense of honesty. The military cared even less for each other as individuals then the other groups, but had a strong sense of self-discipline. It seemed that all the rich had going for them was money that, for the most part, they had not earned. Given Mr. Heinlein’s personal philosophy of hard headed realism, loyalty, honesty, hard work and self-reliance, and his contempt for those who lived off the bounty of others, his portrayal of the different societies is not terribly surprising.
In fact, if Mr. Heinlein’s writing has any weakness it’s that his heroes and heroines are almost always a little too perfect. They may be rogues, but they are rogues with a strict sense of honor and their own moral code that they will not violate. On the other hand, if more people in the real world were like Mr. Heinlein’s heroes then the real world would be a much-improved place.
Average Grade: A+
