Red Planet

[evoluzioni]

Hello everybody, I have just started to "discover" the world of SF and have red some excerpts of Heinlein's novels but there are a few things I don't understand since are only quotation. Also, I am not an english native but I prefer to read books in english, this way i get the stylistic undertones. Maybe someone could help me with these.

red planet
Chapter II paragraph 13

The second generation trooped out. Phyllis said, „Take the charges out of your gun, Jimmy, and let me practice with it.

Which is the meaning of Generation in this specific case?

„Certainly, certainly,“ agreed MacRae, „but speaking non-professionally, I’d rather see the no-good so-and-so hang. Paranoia is a disorder contracted only by those of fundamentally bad character.“

what does: no good so and so hang?

Also Heinlein writes about Willis as a martian bouncers, meaning that Bounces instead of walking?

thank you in advance ..trying to understand how to use all the tools of the forum I've just signed in

 

[Timba]

Welcome Evoluzioni!

It has been a long time since I read Red Planet but I believe second generation refers to the children of the first settlers although that is a very, very vague memory.

No good so and so hang means I would rather see the rotten SOB be strung up by the neck.

Martian bouncers- drawing a blank, could mean what you surmise or if a bar or nightspot is involved could be security for same.

 

[evoluzioni]

"thank you Timba, you've made my day!

sorry if I ask you again but i'm not sure about what you think the bouncers could mean, this is the sentence, I should have post it in advance to be more helpful, I believe there is no nightspot

Everything about Mars is startling. Another thing: we’ve never been able to find anything resembling sex on this planet—various sorts of specie conjugation, yes, but no sex. It appears to me that we missed it. I think that all the nymph Martians, the bouncers, are female; all of the adults are male. They change. I use the terms for want of better ones, of course. But if my theory is ..."

 

[Timba]

Ah, with the context of the sentence I surmise that bouncers is a slang name humans have given to a particular native Martian species. I warn you though, this is pure unadulterated guessing on my part as I do not remember it at all. Makes me realize I need to read my Heinlein again. Always enjoyed him, perhaps it is time to pick him up again.

I am guessing this slang name would be based on their style of motion so your original thought was on target!

 

[evoluzioni]

that's it, I was wondering if in other books he describes the natives/ martians as bouncers. I 'll try to find it. Thanks a lot, I'll definitely by red planet

 

[Abernovo]

evoluzioni, 'bouncers' are part of the plot in Red Planet. Spoilers below, so only highlight if you want to spoil the plot. Good luck with reading. Heinlein wrote a lot of good stuff.

Spoilers:
If I remember correctly, from Red Planet and Stranger in a Strange Land, 'bouncers' are actually the young form of Martians. They change form to become adults (as caterpillars do on Earth, to become butterflies).

In Red Planet, one of the bouncers is kept as a pet, the humans not knowing it's actually a young Martian.

 

[j d worthington]

Abernovo has given a good, succinct explanation there, though things are a bit more complex (as you'll see toward the end of the novel). Nor do the "bouncers" simply "bounce". It is more that they are very energetic and playful. They can simply walk (Willis does this on several occasions, for instance), but they tend to, like young children, be very active, running, bouncing, jumping up and down, and things of that sort... hence the nickname (not actual classification) "bouncers"; especially when contrasted with the almost statuesque Martians the colonists have otherwise encountered....

(I am also very glad to see someone else make the connection between Red Planet and Stranger. Very few seem to catch that, it seems....)

 

[steve12553]

(I am also very glad to see someone else make the connection between Red Planet and Stranger. Very few seem to catch that, it seems....)

I bet it's easier if you read them in order and in the same decade. I remember reading Stranger in a Strange Land and enjoying it but it must have been 15 to 20 years before I went back and read Red Planet. I'll have to put that on my list.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Read this one some time ago, good book.
I think the writers of the original Star Trek pinched the idea of Tribbles from this book.
The Martian Flat Cats just like the Tribbles are born pregnant, so if there's enough food they under go a massive population explosion.

 

[BAYLOR]

There is an animated adaptation of this book.