The plot line is fairly simple: A child born to the first Martian expedition, Valentine Michael Smith (”Mike”), is raised by the Martians and brought back to Earth as a young man, where he receives a rather eccentric education into the ways of man by those who befriend him. Once he feels that he understands humanity, Mike undertakes to educate humans in the philosophy of “Thou art God” in such a way that the truth of that statement is self-evident. As such, he becomes a self-proclaimed messiah, with the usual fate of messiahs that upset everyone’s idea of what is ‘right’. But those who have accepted his ‘education’ will continue on…

The book makes heavy use of irony and contrasting poles of thought, such as Mike (the innocent) vs Jubal Harshaw (the voice of experience). Most of the character’s names are important in terms of their ‘meaning’, elucidating and enhancing many of Heinlein’s points. Due to its structure and theme, this is one of the few SF books that has been subjected to a fair amount of academic analysis, a process that continues to this day.

This book has contributed some new words to the English language, most notably “grok” and “water-brother” and may have the best simple definition of love found anywhere: “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another is conditional to your own”. (Note: this definition appears only in the ‘cut’ version, apparently thought up while he was editing the original version of the book down to what was at the time ‘publishable’ length). And it has certainly expanded the range of what SF can be, both in structure and theme.

The picture here shows a first edition of this book, with the cover art being a picture of the sculpture “Fallen Caryatid With Stone” by Rodin. This item is referenced in the book during a long conversation between Jubal Harshaw and Ben Caxton, where Jubal is instructing Ben in the art of looking at art:

“No,” Caxton answered, “I want to know about these others. How about this one? It doesn’t bother me as much… I can see it’s a young girl, right off. But why tie her up like a pretzel?”

Jubal looked at the replica “Caryatid Who has Fallen under the Weight of her Stone” and smiled. “Call it a tour de force in empathy, Ben. I won’t expect you to appreciate the shapes and masses which make that figure much more than a ‘pretzel’ – but you can appreciate what Rodin was saying. Ben, what do people get out of looking at a crucifix?”

“You know how much I go to church.”

“‘How little’ you mean. Still, you must know that, as craftsmanship, paintings and sculpture of the Crucifixion are usually atrocious – and the painted, realistic ones often used in churches are the worst of all… the blood looks like catsup and that ex-carpenter is usually portrayed as if he were a pansy… which He certainly was not if there is any truth in the four Gospels at all. He was a hearty man, probably muscular and of rugged health. But despite the almost uniformly poor portrayal in representations of the Crucifixion, a poor one is about as effective as a good one for most people. They don’t see the defects; what they see is a symbol which inspires their deepest emotions; it recalls to them the Agony and Sacrifice of God.”

“Jubal, I thought you weren’t a Christian?”

“What’s that got to do with it? Does that make me blind and deaf to fundamental human emotion? I was saying that the crummiest painted plaster crucifix or the cheapest cardboard Christmas Creche can be sufficient symbol to evoke emotions in the human heart so strong that many have died for them and many more live for them. So the craftsmanship and artistic judgment with which such a symbol is wrought are largely irrelevant. Now here we have another emotional symbol – wrought with exquisite craftsmanship, but we won’t go into that, yet. Ben, for almost three thousand years or longer, architects have designed buildings with columns shaped as female figures – it got to be such a habit that they did it as casually as a small boy steps on an ant. After all those centuries it took Rodin to see that this was work too heavy for a girl. But he didn’t simply say, ‘Look, you jerks, if you must design this way, make it a brawny male figure.’ No, he showed it… and generalized the symbol. Here is this poor little caryatid who has tried – and failed, fallen under the load. She’s a good girl – look at her face. Serious, unhappy at her failure, but not blaming anyone else, not even the gods… and still trying to shoulder her load, after she’s crumpled under it.

“But she’s more than good art denouncing some very bad art; she’s a symbol for every woman who has ever tried to shoulder a load that was too heavy for her – over half the female population of this planet, living and dead, I would guess. But not alone women – this symbol is sexless. It means every man and every woman who ever lived who sweated out life in uncomplaining fortitude, whose courage wasn’t even noticed until they crumpled under their loads. It’s courage, Ben, and victory.”

“‘Victory?’”

“Victory in defeat, there is none higher. She didn’t give up, Ben; she’s still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her. She’s a father going down to a dull office job while cancer is painfully eating away his insides, so as to bring home one more pay check for the kids. She’s a twelve-year old girl trying to mother her baby brothers and sisters because Mama had to go to Heaven. She’s a switchboard operator sticking to her job while smoke is choking her and the fire is cutting off her escape. She’s all the unsung heroes who couldn’t quite cut it but never quit. Come. Just salute as you pass her and come see my Little Mermaid.”

First editions of this book in reasonable condition currently sell for several thousand dollars; signed copies are astronomical. I remember having such a copy in my hands at one point. My junior high school automatically got the latest releases by Heinlein (in 1961 Heinlein was a prime favorite of school librarians with all his previous excellent juvenile novels). When they got this book, they didn’t quite know what to make of it as it was so different from his earlier work, with very adult themes and situations. They ended up placing it on the ‘restricted’ shelf; I had to bring in a permission slip from my parents to get my hands on it. I read the book in one day - non-stop eight hours worth of reading - one of the most enjoyable days I’ve ever had.