Stranger in a Strange Land/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


These things about Stranger in a Strange Land are subjective - not everyone will agree with all of them.

  • Anvilicious: In case you didn't get it, Robert Heinlein dislikes mainstream religion (particularly televangelists), likes polyamory and also likes "pleasantly plump" women.
  • Marty Stu: Michael Valentine Smith is a regular human who is also a magical telepathic genius because he was raised by Martians.
    • Jubal Harshaw is a "LL.B., M.D., Sc.D., bon vivant, gourmet, sybarite, popular author extraordinary, neo-pessimist philosopher, devout agnostic, professional clown, amateur subversive, and parasite by choice." Yes, that's three doctorates. He is also incredibly wealthy, does little real work and keeps a harem of sexy secretaries. Oh, did we mention some people think he just happens to be the Author Avatar?
  • Seinfeld Is Unfunny: This book wasn't written to exploit the counterculture movement of the 1960's, but predicted it. Since then, free love has become significantly less shocking and controversial (although something of a Dead Horse Trope).
    • However, it was published to exploit the counter culture movement of the 1960s.
  • Values Dissonance: Jill's ideas on women, homosexuality, and sexism are frighteningly reactionary for such an otherwise progressive book. Her Character Development consists largely of the more liberal Jubal (and especially Mike) getting her to recognize this and become less prudish. Duke undergoes a similar, if abbreviated arc, and the main conflict of the story is Mike's "church" running headlong into the reactionary values of society.
    • All of the male characters, even Jubal, talk patronizingly to Jill and the other female characters, and love to lecture them about why they're wrong. Note that Miriam is a scientist and Anne is a Fair Witness (a completely unbiased legal expert).
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land/YMMV?oldid=2041520"