A Strange Land Satire

Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land is many things at once: a science fiction epic, a tale of spiritual awakening, and critical commentary on politics, religion, and media. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who was brought to Earth in early adulthood, after being born on the planet Mars. The novel describes Smith’s early interactions with his new environment, and the way he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature. Using the knowledge he gains on Earth and his background from Mars, Smith is able to change the lives of several people around him, transforming terrestrial culture based on his fundamental beliefs.

As the novel begins, Heinlein introduces the media satire that recurs throughout

the book. An example of this occurs when a film executive disguised as an orderly attempts to coerce Smith into selling his life story and titling it “I was a Prisoner on Mars” (Heinlein 27). However, Smith was never a prisoner, even resisting his transportation from Mars back to Earth. The impersonator only chose this title for public appeal, and intends to make a basic exploitation film out of Smith’s extraordinary and unique story. The filmmaker’s treatment of Smith also illustrates the way in which humans attempt to take advantage of Smith at his arrival. Having been raised on Mars and unable to fully adjust to Earth’s atmosphere, Smith does not have the capacity to understand his environment. The captain of the expedition that brought Smith to Earth states, “He thinks like a Martian, he feels like a Martian...his body, unbearably compressed and weakened by the strange shape of space on this unbelievable place…feeling it [his arrival] with mind-shaking pain” (Heinlein 20). Furthermore, Smith is not yet able to completely interpret the human language, as shown when the narrator says, “Smith used English as one might use a code book, with tedious and imperfect translation for each syllable” (Heinlein 22). However, this does not stop others from using Smith for their benefit, shown first by scientists who say that Smith “is a veritable treasure trove of scientific information,” and by the media, who ask Smith to sign a contract when he is not capable of making an informed decision (Heinlein 19).
At this point, Smith makes his first connection with a human being. When Jill Boardman, a nurse, offers Smith water, he mistakes it for “the water ritual,” a spiritual rite in which two souls grow closer. The process of “water-sharing” forms a strong, unbreakable bond between Jill and Smith, establishing Jill as an important influence in Smith’s life. Jill’s involvement in Smith’s development reveals another theme of the novel: the way that wealth leads to corruption. Unwittingly, Smith had inherited the fortunes of all the Envoy crew members, and, by a legal precedent known as the Larkin Decision, had become the owner of the planet Mars. Smith’s political importance and titanic financial worth make him a prized target to many powerful people, who do not hesitate to sabotage him of his wealth. This greed leads to violence later in the novel, when Ben Caxton, a friend of Jill’s, is kidnapped and injured, and Jill and Smith are forced to flee into hiding.
The first chapters also show the radical contrast between Martian and human civilization, as Smith says that “his thought, pure Martian abstraction from half a million years of wildly alien culture, traveled so far from any human experience as to be utterly untranslatable” (Heinlein 22). Not only does Smith differ in the way he thinks, but also in the way he is able to control himself physically, as he can force his body to enter a state of “hibernation” when in distress. As the novel continues, it is revealed that Martian civilization does not include the concept of gender, as Smith had never before seen or heard of a female person. His naïveté is further demonstrated in the way he interacts with other people, as they immediately perceive him as a child. For example, Jill refers to him as “The poor baby! The poor, poor, infant!” (Heinlein 55). This statement also shows that humans underestimate the intelligence and the capabilities of the Martian race, while Smith develops into a powerful and influential force as the novel progresses.
As Smith continues to interact with Jill, Heinlein further establishes the importance of the water ritual, and the binding connection that is formed between “water brothers.” As Smith sees Jill for a second time, he is immediately filled with pleasure and purpose, obeying her without question.

He expresses an unwavering trust in Jill, and cherishes her opinions and her value in him. He states that he was “more distressed than was possible...because of some shameful lack or failure,” after Jill did not express the sufficient “joyful fullness” upon interacting with him (Heinlein 80). Through Smith’s conversations with Jill, Heinlein explores one significant Martian idea with the introduction of the Martian word “grok.” Without explanation, “grok” begins to appear in descriptions of Smith’s thought processes. Using context, the reader is able to infer that to “grok” something means to comprehend it profoundly. By using a word that is alien, yet makes sense in context, Heinlein starts to simulate a Martian mindset for the

reader.
Within this Martian mindset lies the attitude that death is something accepted and appreciated.

Martians believe that death, or discorporation, is something that is voluntary and necessary. The race is not troubled or afraid of death, as they believe that the essence of a person is completely separate from their body. This mentality is shown shown when Smith says, “fear of death was an idea utterly beyond him...he would cherish it and try to grok” (Heinlein 87). The Martian society also commonly eats their dead, treating lost loved ones as food, rather than partaking in burial. Although this practice seems horrendous to Smith’s “water brothers” at first, they begin to accept the process as they learn Smith’s belief in separation of body and

spirit.
In Part II of the novel, Heinlein begins to criticize three of the broad targets of his satire: politics, religion, and capitalism. He creates a disharmony between the political authority of the characters and their superficial motivations. For example, Joseph Douglas, the most politically powerful man on Earth, does not make any important political decisions in his administration. He delegates these tasks to his wife—not because he has faith in her political wisdom, but because he is afraid to argue with her. This fear is shown when Douglas says, “Agnes should have seen how easily he was frightened, then she wouldn’t talk that way” (Heinlein 100). Meanwhile, Agnes, his wife, bases the political decisions she makes on astrology, a “science” that is dependent on religion and superstition. Vesant, the astrologer, who is indirectly making political decisions that will affect the lives of billions, does not have the unadulterated commitment to her studies that one would hope. Instead, she is motivated by wealth, investing money she makes from clients, such as Agnes, into the stock market. Although society is founded upon institutions, this situation reveals the fact that these institutions are dangerously dependent on each other. The political leader of the world is driven by fear of his wife, who is influenced by a devotion to religious science, as interpreted for her by a women driven by her fixation with her finances.