Tiptree–Group 1

How do you understand Lorimer as a narrator in “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?”  How do his memories impact his view of the events he’s witnessing in the present of the story?  What is one particular example of the way his earlier experiences color his view of his male crew members or the women on board the Gloria?

7 thoughts on “Tiptree–Group 1

  1. Kennedy Coleman

    Lorimer sees himself as a beta male while the rest of his crew clearly see themselves as alphas. He is described as nerdy, less physically developed and more of an intellectual than a stereotypical “strong” man. Lorimer wants to be an alpha like Bud and Dave, but he’s held back by his own perception of his masculinity. The opening scene of the novella, his first memory that he shares, where he finds himself holding his penis in the open as female students look on and giggle, seems to be a foundational moment in the development of his fragile masculinity. In this vulnerable memory, Lorimer feels emasculated by the “blaring” giggle of the girls. It appears that he has felt insecure about his masculinity for a long time; a fact which alters his perception of the events he’s witnessing in the present of the story.

    This understanding that he is a beta male especially colors his understanding of the woman-run society. Lorimer knows that the feelings of violence and domination toward women that the men on the Gloria have exhibited would not fly in the new feminine world, meanwhile Bud and Dave seem to have no clue that their view of women as mere sex objects or impressionable people to be dominated won’t get them far in a completely female population. In this context, Lorimer, for the first time, feels superior to his male counterparts as he is not as bad as the other men. He attempts to pardon himself with an explanation that though he has expressed violent thoughts toward women he would never act on them like his crew members. Though true, Lorimer is not AS bad as the other men, he still views women as intellectually and culturally inferior.

    The women tell Lorimer that they have never even had those thoughts and have no need for males, alpha and beta alike, for they pose an unnecessary risk to the women inhabiting Earth. This fact is confusing and devastating to Lorimer who has never fit in with masculine males like Bud and Dave and now will be killed because he also does not fit in with the women that he has been compared to his entire life. Lorimer’s character is a confusing one because on one hand, the incessant bullying by alpha males has made him hate those kinds of men but on the other hand, even in the last moments before he accepts his fate and takes the poison, he still kind of wants to be them. Though “better” than his crew mates in some ways, Lorimer as a man is still unfit to live in a world of women where his existence is not only unnecessary but also perceived as a violent threat.

    It’s pretty interesting to consider an all female population. If there’s no need for men to procreate then why even have them? The women in the story, after studying Lorimer, Bud and Dave, realize that the three men posed more of a threat to their society than anything else. This reminds me of a discussion I had in a class a few years back about a book called “The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler where Eisler talks about a women-oriented society and argues that men are innately violent and women are innately peaceful. I don’t agree with this idea, and I think that the reason this blanket statement often appears to have some merit is because of social constructs which force women to bite their tongues and be docile. Nevertheless, I think the idea is important in the context of the female society in “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” If men truly are violent and this society has no need for them in procreation, then what is their role? To protect the women from other men? In this line of thinking, there truly is no need for men on Earth.

  2. Nathaniel Klein

    I understand Lorimer as a male struggling with his masculinity. He mentions in the story he identifies as the beta male in the group compared to his shipmates, and this characteristic drives a contemplative, hesitant, and observant narrator. I think his less macho nature makes him a better narrator because we learn more as the reader compared to the narrative from Bud.

    An example of a past memory is when he’s looking at Connie and recalls the first time he met her aboard Gloria. Lormier says, “The future is a vast bright cylinder” and rattles off a bunch of surprising characteristics of the ship. Interestingly, he also notes the miscellaneous items and how it’s not like science fiction. I think these features of the memory color the women as mysterious and different from men. By describing the scene as not science fiction, I think Tiptree distinguishes this story as different from previous sci fi. Her ideas are not rooted in hard sci-fi, but center on an unimagined future. These men can’t understand the ship, nor will they understand the future earth once it’s explained to them because it’s a future they would not have created. This first impression has significance but it shapes how the men will interact with the futuristic people. These memories remind us of how Lorimer thinks of the other characters with greater emphasis as they would in the present moment. He is the narrator so obviously the descriptions of each character is from his perspective, but the memories give his first impressions and influences interactions in the present. Interestingly, I found a radio version of the story on youbtube where the story does not have the memories. Instead the events take place without any flashbacks. I think it still worked, but I wonder if people think they memories are a requirement for the story to work they way it does.

  3. Aria Bowden

    As other commenters have mentioned, there certainly is an aspect present of Lorimer being a “beta” male. He is rather more feminine and his nerdiness and intellectualism have led to him being bullied throughout his life. The women on the Gloria seem to find him the easiest to talk with and he is the most interested in understanding their society and the truth of their situation. Tiptree really effectively uses the character traits of the Bud and Dave to highlight Lorimer’s masculinity and femininity through the way they interact with the women. I see in Lorimer kind of a “nice guy” mentality. Perhaps he didn’t act on his dangerous thoughts, but he still thought them. He thinks that he is somehow better than his male colleagues but he may even be worse. He has internalized sexism to the same extent they have, but his quieter version is almost a little more dangerous. I think this is the point that Tiptree tries to make. The most disturbing scene to me was the one where Bud is assaulting Judy and Lorimer just sits and watches. He is disturbed but he makes no motion to stop what is going on. Yet, when Bud attacks Andy (who is more masculine presenting) he decides to stop this because a man can’t hit a woman. It is really disturbing that Lorimer made no motion to stop Bud from assaulting Judy and just sat and watched until the situation was extremely out of hand. I think this is the moment that Tiptree uses to emphasize how Lorimer is just as bad as the rest of them, because while he doesn’t act, he is very much an accomplice.

  4. Danny Chen

    I understood Lorimer as a narrator in the story as someone who is very contemplative and self aware, especially about his place and role in society and on the ship. The insecurity of Lorimer is unusual for a male lead character, but it becomes clear that he is still bound by the old ideas of masculinity that was accepted by his old society back on earth. I found the openness, uncertainty and self doubt that Lorimer expressed in his thoughts to be very interesting; maybe this depiction of a vulnerable male character is a reflection of the changing views of society during Tiptree’s time to ideas of acceptable depictions of masculinity. While it is clear that Lorimer admires and even envies his bigger, more physical crew members, there are moments in his recollections that indicates his inner conflict with masculinity. For example, when he is recalling the first radio contact with the ship Gloria and realizing that they might be centuries in the future, Lorimer laments about how badly he wants to ask about changes to life on earth but is prohibited from broaching the topic by Dave. He grapples with how to try to change Dave’s mind when he is saved by his other crew mate Bud stepping in first. Thus, we see in this exchange how he realizes that sometimes he is in the right and wants to go against the other men, but in the end is stopped by his own insecurities because he is afraid to challenge people that he believe are ‘better’ (i.e. more masculine) than him.

  5. Clara Bass

    Lorimer has an interesting perspective to read from as a female reader. One part of me sympathizes with him– he’s not “that bad” when compared to his companions, who openly act on asserting domination and sex upon the female crew of the Gloria (maybe because my own society attempts to soften my view of the sexism of men– thinking sexist thoughts still means you’re sexist, bud). The other part of me agrees with the female crew– despite everything, Lorimer still thought violent thoughts about women, and containing violently sexist thoughts is as detrimental to the view of him as acting upon them would be. Excusing sexist behavior as being “not that bad” is not ever going to cultivate the end of sexist behavior. I think his memories are really ironic– despite being told while he grew up that he wasn’t “manly” enough and that he was “like a girl,” that can’t save him from death at the hands of the women on the ship. After accidentally using the girl’s bathroom when he was younger, his fellow male students called him a girl. Lorimer found that offensive, and spent the rest of his life trying to prove that he was a “manly” man. Despite his apparent “femininity,” he strives to be as alpha of a man as his traveling companions. This is what sentences him to death in the eyes of the Gloria’s crewmates. The reason he can’t be saved, of course, is because he’s not a woman. And being told that he was beneath other men through being equated to a woman left thoughts about the inferiority of women in Lorimer, thoughts that betray him under the influence of the drug given to the male crewmates.

  6. Jonathan Hobart

    Lorimer’s perspective differs from the other two male crew members because he doesn’t feel superior to the women on the Gloria. Lorimer understands that there are inherent differences between males and females, but he understands that these differences don’t make one sex superior. One instance that sheds light on Lorimer’s perspective on women occurs while the leavenoramine compound drugs him. During this time of intoxication, Lorimer cannot keep his thoughts inside his head and says every thought he has out loud. During one moment of intoxication, Lorimer thinks back to much his wife, and other woman talked. He doesn’t understand why women seem to continually talk and compare them to ants continually twiddling their antennas. Lorimer appears not to be overly critical of this characteristic but rather curious and mystified. There is no doubt that Lorimer had a very loving relationship with many women of his life, especially his wife Ginny. This is made clear during the period of his intoxication. These fond and loving memories of women made Lorimer’s interactions with the women on board the Gloria much different than the other male members. He can dissect and understand the current state of the human race, unlike his compatriots, because he can imagine a world that isn’t male-dominated.

  7. Griffin Knapp

    To start, it definitely took me a fair amount of pages to get into the swing of reading Lorimer’s narration. At first it felt very choppy, sporadic and unfocused, but maybe that was because he was under the influence of whatever drugs the crew of Gloria had given him. Once finally feeling more comfortable with the narration, I found it interesting that what was supposed to be typical narration only intended to be understood by the reader ended up being also communicated to Connie. It felt almost as if it was a sort of 4th wall break (maybe that’s not the term for it but I can’t seem to find the right one) that immersed me more in the feeling of inhibition that Lorimer was likely feeling during the story. Maybe it could be said that this jarring realization that narration was not only available to the reader of the story, but also the character’s in the story reinforced the idea of the men of the Sunmaker being historical and scientific specimens to the crew of the Gloria. Not only this but it gives the reader a certain feeling of uncomfort knowing that the thoughts of Lorimer were not only between them and Lorimer. It felt almost as if I was under the microscope as much as Lorimer was.
    To answer the final question of the prompt, I feel like an example of Lorimer’s earlier experiences color his view of the women of the ship is the final page of the story. He reminsces on the time a “diseased kitten came in the yard…” and how his mother and sister “comforted it and fed it and tenderly taken it to the vet to be gassed.” In a way, he views the crew of Gloria at the end of the story, specifically Connie, as sort of matronly figures in his present situation. They are going to take care of him by giving him the antidote to his drugs, despite knowing he cannot be integrated into their all-woman, utopian, space-pioneering society because the ancient masculinity he retains from times past (demonstrated by Bud’s interesting series of previous actions) would be too dangerous to risk.

Leave a Reply