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{{tropelist}}
* [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male]]: Lampshaded and explained. Because of the huge gender disparity on the Moon, a woman can hit a man "so hard she draws blood,", and the man will be severely punished ''by other men'' if he retaliates, because of the intense competition for female favors. Attitudes on Earth, where there is no sexual imbalance, are very different.
* [[Ambiguously Brown]]: Not quite [[In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race]], but there is a lot more racial admixture on Luna than on earth due to its smaller population. When one group wants to ban immigrants from Luna, Manuel muses about what race they would put ''him'' in.
** Sidris, one of Mannie's wives, is implied to be very black. Another Ludmilla is implied to be very pale.
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* [[Character Filibuster]]: The lectures of Professor de la Paz.
* [[China Takes Over the World]]: Said nation is much bigger in the book than it is today, including half of Australia and a good chunk of Russia. The FN exist to keep the peace after the Wet Firecracker War between Russia and the US.
* [[Collapsed Mid-Speech]]: While {{spoiler|Professor de la Paz}} was on Earth he suffered greatly from the Earth's greater gravity, as it was six times what he was used to. After he returned to the Moon he seemed to get better. Near the end of the novel, after the Moon had won the war with the Federated Nations of Earth, he gave a speech to a crowd of Loonies.
{{quote|He stopped for cheers, then went on, "But that lies in the future. Today-- Oh, happy day! At last the world acknowledges Luna's sovereignty. Free! You have won your freedom--"
{{spoiler|Prof}} stopped--looked surprised. Not afraid, but puzzled. Swayed slightly.
Then he did die. }}
* [[Colony Drop]]: The Loonies declare their independence from Earth by throwing rocks at it. Very ''large'' rocks. From a railgun.
* [[Continuity Nod]]: In theory, this novel is in the same (sub)continuity as the young adult novel ''The Rolling Stones.''. Hazel Meade in this novel is to grow up to be Hazel Stone in that one. ''The Rolling Stones'' has the same Martians (presumably) as ''[[Stranger in A Strange Land]]'', and from there on there are links to about a dozen other books, including ''The Cat Who Walks Through Walls'' which functions as a sequel, when the series was officially tied into the World as Myth.
* [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]]: Apparently believed of Cyborgs, as even Mannie refers to them as "ex-humans.".
* [[Distracted by the Sexy]]: When a new bunch of Earth soldiers is transferred to Luna, female revolutionaries take to walking around very nearly naked (not at all uncommon on the Moon) right in front of them to keep them from doing their jobs. Their boss ''begged'' for them to have their own women, brought up from Earth, but was refused; a group of soldiers finally snapping and attacking one of the women is the spark that ignites the Revolution early.
* [[Elite Mooks]]: The Peace Dragoons who are sent from Earth to pacify Luna. After a group of them {{spoiler|rape and murder a Loonie woman}}, however, there's no chance for them.
* [[Emergent Human]]: Mike, in some ways.
* [[Everything Is Online]]: ''Despite'' there being no official internet. That's what happens when a sentient computer is in charge of the phone switches and the printing presses.
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* [[Fetus Terrible]]: Wyoh was traumatized after giving birth to a mutated child.
* [[Future Imperfect]]: If Manny is any indication, Loonies have a rather shaky grasp of history. He thought [[Thomas Jefferson]] freed the slaves, and confused [[The American Revolution]] with the [[American Civil War]]. (Actually, this is done to hammer in that the Loonies are not Americans. Most non-Americans on present-day Earth would easily get the civil war and the revolution mixed up, but have no clue who Jefferson was.)
* [[Future Slang]]: The very analytical dialect spoken on Luna, which is also full of foreign loanwords, ege.g. "Gospodin" (Russian) for "Mr.", "no huhu" (Chinese) for "no problem", and so on.
* [[Gender Rarity Value]]: Women are completely in charge when it comes to sex, and any man who attacks a woman will find himself [[Thrown Out the Airlock]]. Very, very literally.
** To the extent that there's a mention of one fellow suffering this fate, and the crowd that did it only finding out afterwards that she was a prostitute and he was being difficult about paying the fee.
* [[Going Native]]: Stuart, eventually.
* [[Grammar Nazi]]: When a modified version of the Declaration of Independence is submitted to Luna's ''ad hoc'' Congress for ratification, many members are hesitant to sign it. One person voices his doubts by pointing out that "unalienable" is not a word, it should be "inalienable.". Later, he agrees to sign it, though he's still hesitant because of a dangling modifier. In the narration, Manny refers to him as having a language fetish.
* [[Gratuitous Russian]]: Thanks to [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]], the amount of Russian loanwords mixed into a Loonie's everyday speech can seem rather strange.
** Many Loonies are descended from people in areas annexed by "Great China" -- including Australia and Russia, among others, so this actually makes sense.
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* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: Loonies live way longer than Terrans because of the reduced strain on their bodies, and they age slower, too; Mannie, for example, points out to some Terrans that even though he looks twenty or thirty he's actually been ''married'' longer than that.
** His actual age is never stated, though it can be inferred. The books mention that boys tend to get married around age 15, so adding that to Mannie saying he's been married for more than 25 years would make him about 40 at the youngest.
* [[Recycled in Space]]: More than a few elements are [[The American Revolution]] [[In Space]].
** Done deliberately in-universe in a couple places. As one example, Prof and Mike use the Declaration of Independence as the template for Luna's own announcement of independence.
{{quote|''In Congress assembled, July 4th, 2076...''}}
** Also invoked deliberately by the rebels with one of their slogans being, "No Taxation without Representation". Ironically, the American representative to the world government is one of the most vocal opponents of the Luna "criminals" seeking freedom and independence.
** It was noted in-book that the rebels purposefully played up these elements to manipulate public opinion and create sympathy back on Earth. (Includingincluding spreading rumors in Mexico that the coup had been on May 5th.).
* [[Refusal of the Call]]: Mannie is wholeheartedly determined not to join the Revolution. At least, not until Mike can quote him odds that he likes.
* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized]]: Both played (somewhat) straight and subverted: The group outright fabricates events, lies to the Lunar citizens on multiple occasions, steals from their own people, fakes assassination attempts and bombings, and provokes riots, shootings, and a rape/murder (although ''definitely'' not on purpose); and only plays by the rules they set for themselves when it is convenient to do so, in order to turn public opinion against the (already unpopular) Lunar Authority. Yet they warn ahead of time of their targets for orbital bombardment and attempt to shed no innocent blood on Earth. This isn't done for altruistic purposes, but because if they did, Earth would squash them like bugs in retaliation. And, in the words of one character: "Whenever possible, leave room for your enemies to become your friends."
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