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Slavery In Robert Heinlein's Citizen Of The Galaxy

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Written by Robert Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy, a well-written and engaging novel, artfully crafts a story about slavery and what freedom really means through the life of a young boy. Set in a futuristic universe, this story tells of a young orphaned slave named Thorby. Baslim, a one-eyed, one-legged beggar who takes pity on Thorby, decides to buy him and raise the youth as his adopted son. Over several years, Thorby learns many valuable skills and a wide range of school subjects from his adopted father, who turns out to be more than he appears. Unfortunately, through a series of events involving corrupt police, Baslim dies, leaving Thorby orphaned once more with the police looking for him. Now a fugitive, Thorby follows Baslim’s final instructions: "You 'll find this man [...] and deliver this message. Then he will have something for you to do [...] I want you to do exactly what he tells you to." (18). Thorby seeks out Captain Krausa, skipper of the Free Trader ship Sisu, and the Captain smuggles Thorby off the planet, Jubbulpore.
Aboard the Free Trader ship, Thorby learns the way of the People, a free …show more content…

Spending his early years as a slave, Thorby struggles against society for freedom and justice. Near the end of the book, Thorby plans to join the Guard so he can take part in banishing slavery from the galaxy. He also battles with his power-hungry uncle for control over the Rudbek Company so he can undo the damage and restore justice and order to the company. Citizen of the Galaxy also focuses on different types of freedom. At the end of the book when Thorby owns considerable wealth and sits at the head of a large organization, he realizes that he had more freedom as a beggar’s slave than now. He also notes that while the People are a free society, they pay the price for their freedom by giving up their individual

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