I guess the first thing that I should say is that I really loved the way that the story begins ..
"These hungry, mother-haunted people come and find us living in what they like to call crystal palaces, though really we live in glass places, some of them highly ornamented and others plain as paper".
It really made me think "Okay, this opening must be giving a general idea of what this story encompasses". And it really does. The hungry mother haunted people are humans. The humans are exploring a planet that is inhabited by Protean aliens.
This male alien is given the task of transforming into a "she" and going to work for Dr. Arnold Proctor as a way of obtaining money. The Warden of her group transforms "him" into Martha Dow, a thirty-something year old lab assistant.
I think the story is interesting in the sense that it seems to be suggesting that we can only "become someone else" for so long. Then we have to go back to our core identity. As I was reading, I was hoping that Martha would stay Martha. But she didn't, and I think that might be a main point in the story.
All in all, I liked this!
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2 comments:
I liked the story too. I wonder what would have happened if Dr Proctor hadn't died - whether the alien would have stayed in the form of Martha Dow forever? What his reaction would have been, finding out that his lover is actually an alien. I almost wish the story had been a little longer...
" I think the story is interesting in the sense that it seems to be suggesting that we can only "become someone else" for so long. Then we have to go back to our core identity."
This is an interesting take on the story. I never really thought about it that way...
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