Compare And Contrast Star Pit And Aye

The exploration of space is a common occurrence in science fiction. Two of Samuel R. Delany’s short stories, Star Pit and aye, and gomorrah, take that standard story line and complicates it, adding the caveat that only certain types of people are granted full access. In both Star Pit and aye, and gomorrah, Delany establishes story-worlds that contain a select group of individuals who are chosen to venture into space in a capacity the rest of their society is unable to do. In Star Pit, they are “golden”, a small group of “psychological freaks” able to survive going light-years past the galactic rim, a feat that destroys most (Delany 13). In aye, and gomorrah, “Spacers” are the chosen ones, forced to undergo physical alterations to qualify them for the work they are singled out to do. The result of being one of the special few, in both stories, is to be considered separate from the rest of society, and hated, ignored, or shunned. This division comes from the imposition of boundaries on what the golden

and Spacers can be. In addition to the physical and psychological limits they are unable to rid themselves of, they are categorized by those who fail to understand or sympathize with the conditions they have been pushed into.
For the majority of Star Pit, the only descriptions of the golden come from Vyme’s narration, and his conversations with other characters. The first in depth explanation of the golden is from Vyme’s memory of the announcement made when they were first discovered, “’Some few of us whose sense of reality has been shattered by infantile, childhood, or prenatal trauma, whose physiological orientation makes life in our interstellar society painful or impossible – not all, but a few of these golden…can make the crossing and return’” (Delany 14). As the story progresses, more details surrounding the golden emerge.
Comments from Vyme and Ratlit are representative of the public sentiment towards the golden. Ratlit, who is incredibly jealous of the freedom the golden appear to have, contributes the “standard line” about the golden, “There are only two types of golden…Mean ones and stupid ones” (Delany 31). When Ratlit wants to steal a golden belt, their identifier, Vyme cautions against being mistaken for golden, saying, “I’d be nasty to whoever stole the belt and wore it. Nobody but a golden deserves to be hated that much” (Delany 24). Even Allegra, who discovers she is golden, still shares the collective view that golden are “mean or stupid”. The reader is constantly reminded how resented the golden are and are given justifications for that resentment. In the eyes of the non-golden, they are violent and aggressive, unpunishable due to their rarity and necessity, and free to escape the “interstellar society”.
The role the golden have been cast in is finally challenged with the introduction of the character An, a young golden. During a conversation with Vyme, An rejects Vyme’s perception of the golden:
“…I try to get used to you, behaving like something that isn’t even savage. But, boy-kid, your kind really mess with a guy’s picture of the universe.”
“And what the hell do you expect us to act like?” An shot back. Spittle glittered on his lips again. “What would you do if you were trapped like us?”
“Huh?” I said questioningly. “You, trapped?”
“Look.” A spasm passed over his shoulders. “The psycho-technician who made sure I was properly psychotic wasn’t a golden, brother! You pay us to bring back the weapons, dad! We don’t fight your damn wars, grampa! You’re the ones who take us away from our groups, say we’re too valuable to submit to your laws, then deny us our heredity because we don’t breed true, no-relative-of-mine!” (Delany 54-55)
This exchange is crucial because it’s the first time the reader gets a glimpse at the golden perspective. Up until this point, it’s been well established that the golden are psychologically damaged, however they appear to possess power and freedom in the eyes of those not golden. They are seemingly above the law, their actions having no consequences, and they get to explore the recesses of the galaxy. With An’s outburst, something else becomes clear. The golden are being exploited. They are chosen based on characteristics outside their control, their mental health, taken from their families, and subjected to treatments to further their psychotic state. They don’t choose to be golden, but once they have been identified, they are subject to the hatred of others. While this doesn’t excuse their behavior, they are certainly a product of their environment.
Vyme struggles with the thought of the golden being trapped, later saying to An, “to be trapped, there has to be somewhere you can’t go. For it to bug you, there has to be something else around that can,” (Delany 67). This prompts An to explain that there are parallel universes that the golden are unable to access, but what stands out is how Vyme defines being trapped. For Vyme, it’s very literal, where someone can and can’t go. Knowing this, it’s understandable that Vyme doesn’t accept that the golden could be trapped, he is not considering social boundaries or the struggle of being mentally unstable. Though An clarifies that he wasn’t saying that the non-golden were trapping him in his outburst, it still stands that society has a rigid, narrow view of the golden that they have no choice but to live with.
An disrupts the narrative of the golden, and even if his contribution does little to change the characters judgements, it’s a reminder of the importance of perspective. In aye, and gomorrah, the entire story from the viewpoint of a Spacer, one of the chosen space-goers. Similar to the golden, the Spacers are identified by a factor they have no agency over, the state of their sexuality. The search for the sexually stunted is depicted as multipurpose. The work the Spacers are need for exposes them to extreme radiation that damages genitals. Instead of finding away to protect against the radiation, a different approach in taken, as the Spacer explains, ‘"Population Explosion time," I said. "No, they were hunting for any excuse to cut down kids back then—especially deformed ones"’ (Delany 97). The “they” the Spacer refers to elected to essentially neuter those they didn’t want to procreate and pass on their “deformities”.
Interestingly, the Spacer doesn’t outwardly appear to resent the changes that have been made to their body, calling it a “fine solution” and saying that they are “happy with it” (Delany 97).

The Spacer has no bitterness towards the physical limits they are forced to live with, the inability to have and act on sexual desires. Instead, they are more occupied by the social barrier being a Spacer create, because, also like the golden, the general public would prefer the Spacers to keep their distance. This becomes extremely clear almost immediately from the interactions the Spacers have with non-Spacers while on Earth. One of the comments made by a woman is particularly revealing, with her first saying, “Spacer, do you not think you . . . people should leave?" And continuing with when asked if she is a frelk, "Sorry. But you have nothing that . . . would be useful to me. It is too bad, for you look like you were once a woman, no? And I like women, too. . . ." (Delany

92).
The pause before calling Spacers people paired with the insinuation that the Spacers lacking genitals makes them useless speaks volumes to the social boundaries imposed on the Spacers. The physical alteration and lack of sexuality may not be a concern of the Spacers, but it dehumanizes them to the rest of society, making them outcasts. Frelks, an almost equally ostracized group, are the opposite side of the spectrum, shunned for what are seen as deviant sexual desires, the sexual interest in Spacers, however, the frelks have the ability to hide what they are while the Spacers can’t avoid recognition.
The unique relationship between frelks and spacers is complicated further when the narrator is propositioned by a frelk woman. Because the reader is privy to the Spacers thoughts, the complexness of their feeling towards the frelks can be explored. Due to the position the Spacers have been chosen for and their placement in society as a result, they are incredibly lonely, and, overall, the only people they can look to for any kind of company is the frelks. Because the frelks desire them for sexual purposes, the Spacers grapple with prostituting themselves in exchange for being temporarily accepted.
The frelks are inescapably obsessed with the Spacers out of a need to escape their own restrictions, something that they find through the Spacers. As the frelk the narrator goes home with explains, “We have our dull, circled lives, bound to gravity, worshipping you!” This is seen further in the large collection of space and Spacer paraphernalia the frelk has in her home. The frelk hints that she, and other frelks, are trapped by their “perversions,” how she can’t change what she is, and furthermore, envies the Spacers for the freedom of being essentially sexless. “You don’t change your perversions. You have no perversions at all. You’re free of the whole business.” In the frelk’s eyes, the physical alterations the Spacers undergo frees them from facing the ostracization from an unaccepted sexual desire.
The frelk thinks she understands the Spacer, calling herself and other frelks “experts”, and that she is entitled to something from them because of that (Delany 96). In her eyes, she’s not buying the Spacer, but expressing her love for them. She struggles to understand when the Spacer wants something important of hers in lieu of money. She doesn’t comprehend that the Spacer needs to feel that there is more to their transaction than sex, needs something to ease the loneliness, which is the reason the Spacer went home with her saying, "What will you give me? I want something," I said. "That's why I came. I'm lonely. Maybe I want to find out how far it goes. I don't know yet" (Delany 100). Shortly after the Spacer has explained their position, they a met with the same line they here from everyone else, “Don’t you think you should leave?” (Delany 101). Despite what the frelk asserts, that she loves the Spacers, ultimately, they are an object, and when the object doesn’t fit in the space that’s been made for it, it is rejected.
Somewhat similarly, Vyme struggled to accept that the golden could possibly feel trapped. The idea didn’t fit with the picture he had of the golden, and was therefore ignored. This speaks to one of the results of creating boundaries within a society, the simplification of the “other”. By establishing strict categories based on arbitrary or perceived limits, and then ignoring new information that could potentially upset the borders leads to the perception of people as one-dimensional characters. It becomes much easier to rationalize the mistreatment and exploitation on an “other” if that “other” can be dehumanized, stripped of intricate emotions or thoughts. For the golden, they are psychologically broken, mean, and stupid, so why shouldn’t they be used for the good of society even if doing so further deteriorates their mental state. The Spacers “sexual responses are hopelessly retarded at puberty,” so it is only logical to rid them of all sexual capabilities so they can be repurposed into something more useful. Even for the frelks, they are a means to an end, a temporary escape from a culture that doesn’t accept them.