Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The planet's immune system is doing everything it can. The planet's immune system is doing everything it can."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 |
| Moon Moth | ||
| A rather plain and timid mask. |
Everyone on the planet Sirene wears a mask; why should a person be forced to encounter the world with a visage he did not choose? Why shouldn't a person be able to choose a face consonant with his personal prestige, his repute, that he earned himself?
In the story, Edwer Thissell arrives on Sirene as the new ambassador. Used to being treated as an important person, he finds that he has little or no prestige on Sirene. It doesn't matter what your position is - it matters what kind of person you are. Your prestige, your strakh, is the only way you can buy anything; there is no medium of exchange, no money, on the planet. He is told that the Moon Moth is a suitable mask for him.
| Thissell unenthusiastically inspected the mask. It was constructed of mouse-colored fur; there was a tuft of hair at each side of the mouth hole, a pair of featherlike antennae at the forehead. White lace flaps dangled beside the temples and under the eyes hung a series of red folds, creating an effect at once lugubrious and comic.
Thissell asked, "Does this mask signify any degree of prestige?" "Not a great deal." |
| From The Moon Moth,
by Jack Vance. Published by Pocket Books in 1976 Additional resources -
|
The plot of the novel turns on the wearing of masks; it is quite a clever detective story.
Why do human beings wear masks? Children (and adults) do it for fun, but anthropologists use the term "liminality" to discuss the purpose of mask-wearing. Masks are used when people step outside the limits of ordinary behavior. For example, a person wearing a clown "mask" is allowed to do things that adults are ordinarily not permitted to do. Wearing a mask allows a shaman to become a spirit or a dangerous beast. In the Vance story, a person could change masks if they wished, but they had to have the strakh needed to pull off the new role.
See Lesson in the Social Purpose and Significance of Masks for a lesson plan on how to explore the purpose of masks.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Moon Moth
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Vance
Tech news articles related to The Moon Moth
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Vance
| Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores |
| Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea! |
| ROAM Robotics Skiing Exoskeleton |
| IRL Glasses Block Screens, Limit Vision To Real Life |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'... the lens displays would be useless without a wearable computer to do the graphics.'
'the registration number which the traffic control automatically photographed as she left the controlway...'
'It could maintain a steady six miles per hour...'
'Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons...'
'...without burning a single hydrocarbon molecule to injure the diseased atmosphere any further.'
'Bird-like robots now descended from the ceiling of the theatre...'
'The efficient robot waiter of the Sky Club had cleared away the remnants of an epicurean meal.'
'...in the tank the new body and the new mind and memory and life has taken almost instant form.'
