[net.sf-lovers] FRIDAY and Heinlein

dls@hocse.UUCP (03/21/84)

Here comes my off-net friend again:

Commentary on:

>    From kcarroll@utzoo.UUCP Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
>    Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
>    Subject: Re: Heinlein and FRIDAY
>    Date: Mon, 12-Mar-84 16:43:25 EST
>
>    I've got an idea: why not interpret the novel Friday based on what's
>    in it, rather than what you wish was in it?

A cheap shot.  Besides, most criticism of a book consist of telling
what you think the author did wrong and what he/she should have done
instead, i.e. what you wish was in the book.

>    The present controversy is over Friday's marrying a man who had 
>    previously raped her.  Well, perhaps she wouldn't have thought of it
>    that way; he was another AP like her, he was a member of her own profession
>    (giving them a common interest), he helped her escape onto the colony
>    planet (if I remember correctly). In addition, she wanted desperately
>    to belong to a family; getting married is a good first step towards that.

This is like saying if a chemist is raped by another chemist, they are both
human beings and they have their work in common.  Give me a break!

>    I don't remember whether or not there would have been other APs in the
>    colonies; from what I remember, she felt that she couldn't trust regular
>    people, because they might find out her background and turn against her.
>    In that case, the rapist might have been the one person she could trust.

Run that one by me again please?

>    Besides which, the guy had been kind to her (given that it was his job
>    to rape her; he was kinder than the others involved), and she hadn't
>    had to watch him as she was being raped. Perhaps that made it easier
>    to forget the incident (especially since she'd "turned off" at the time).

The one reasonable point in this whole item.

>    I must admit that I was rather lukewarm about Friday when first I read the
>    book. Now, looking back on the half-remembered plot, and with the flames
>    going back and forth on the net to stimulate thinking about it, I'm
>    growing to appreciate it more. So, keep those flames burning!
>    .XS
>    -Kieran A. Carroll
>    ...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll

Well, I did want to stimulate thinking.