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One of the themes in the book is the adolescent fantasies of male badassitude which follow them well into adulthood, with a diminishing but ever-present sense o

One of the themes in the book is the adolescent fantasies of male badassitude which follow them well into adulthood, with a diminishing but ever-present sense of possibility. Actually I'm not sure that is a theme. There's a brief meditation on the theme of adolescent badass fantasies, but it's only used as a way of introducing a new character who is an even more ridiculous adolescent badass fantasy than the ridiculous adolescent badass fantasies that we've met up to this point.

Cushman 14y ago
The passage you're talking about is specifically about the fact that Hiro feels a sense of relief from the fact that he will never be more badass than Raven. That's a very particular angle on the situation, and you can read it at least partially ironically, because in fact it doesn't stop Hiro from trying to be, well, a hero, and if anything causes him to be more badass in the future. But the book is full of male characters who die because they are trying to be or think that they are badasses. Raven is held up as an an ironic sort of idol; he demonstrates how badass you actually have to be in order not to die, and it's a comically excessive amount. And yet he's the only one who seems not to be motivated by that desire at all; he's just trying to get something done. I don't think it takes a particularly close reading to see this theme; you just need to be willing to entertain the possibility that it's not just adolescent fantasy.
excuse-me 14y ago
Almost all 60-70-80s SciFi is the adolescent fantasies of male badassitude of the author.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  What? That's definitely not what late 60s - early 70s sci fi was all about. It would be hard to get much further from the truth, actually. That was a period of social introspection in sci fi, to almost too great an extent. Now, late 70s and 80s, maybe was about male badassitude. Some of it, anyway. But even then, there's a lot of deeper stuff in that era.
  - excuse-me 14y ago
    Sturgeon's law

Cushman 14y ago

The passage you're talking about is specifically about the fact that Hiro feels a sense of relief from the fact that he will never be more badass than Raven. That's a very particular angle on the situation, and you can read it at least partially ironically, because in fact it doesn't stop Hiro from trying to be, well, a hero, and if anything causes him to be more badass in the future. But the book is full of male characters who die because they are trying to be or think that they are badasses. Raven is held up as an an ironic sort of idol; he demonstrates how badass you actually have to be in order not to die, and it's a comically excessive amount. And yet he's the only one who seems not to be motivated by that desire at all; he's just trying to get something done. I don't think it takes a particularly close reading to see this theme; you just need to be willing to entertain the possibility that it's not just adolescent fantasy.

excuse-me 14y ago

Almost all 60-70-80s SciFi is the adolescent fantasies of male badassitude of the author.

waterlesscloud 14y ago
What? That's definitely not what late 60s - early 70s sci fi was all about. It would be hard to get much further from the truth, actually. That was a period of social introspection in sci fi, to almost too great an extent. Now, late 70s and 80s, maybe was about male badassitude. Some of it, anyway. But even then, there's a lot of deeper stuff in that era.
- excuse-me 14y ago
  Sturgeon's law