Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,909
edits
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Literature.TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Literature.TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
No edit summary |
||
| (12 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work}}
{{Infobox book
Set in the same universe as ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'', ''The Cat Who Walks Through Walls'' is one of [[Robert Heinlein]]'s later works. It features yet another soldier-of-fortune in the character of Richard Ames, a retired colonel who begins the story living on a cushy space station. His easy life is quickly upended when he marries Gwen Novak, who is secretly a Time Agent, and on a mission to save the universe. Richard and Gwen are chased across the galaxy by unknown enemies, and eventually take refuge in a multiverse paradise, populated by many familiar characters from other Heinlein books, including [[Stranger in A Strange Land|Jubal Harshaw]] and the ubiquitous [[Author Avatar|Lazarus Long]].▼
| title = The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
| image =
| caption =
| author = Robert A. Heinlein
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre =
| preceded by = The Number of the Beast
| followed by = To Sail Beyond the Sunset
| publication date = 1985
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
▲Set in the same universe as ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'', '''''The Cat Who Walks Through Walls''''' is one of [[Robert Heinlein]]'s later works. It features yet another soldier-of-fortune in the character of Richard Ames, a retired colonel who begins the story living on a cushy space station. His easy life is quickly upended when he marries Gwen Novak, who is secretly a Time Agent, and on a mission to save the universe. Richard and Gwen are chased across the galaxy by unknown enemies, and eventually take refuge in a multiverse paradise, populated by many familiar characters from other Heinlein books, including [[Stranger in
The story operates heavily on the ideas perpetuated in [[Time Enough for Love]] and [[Number of the Beast]] -- [[The World
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: Pixel, the titular cat, can walk through walls and possibly through space-time-universe. At a loss to explain how, the characters theorize that he doesn't realize that he can't.
* [[Action Girl]]: Despite Richard's attempts at machismo, Gwen is a far superior combatant.
Line 18 ⟶ 33:
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Pixel, the titular cat. He walks not only through walls but also space-time-universe, apparently via [[Achievements in Ignorance|not being aware that he can't]]. {{spoiler|In the climax, he alerts the heroes to an ambush by showing up at an opportune moment.}}
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Lazarus, and Gwen by proxy. Their scheme to manipulate Richard is epic in its scope, and that itself is only a small part of the larger plan which is to rescue Mike Mycroft from Luna.
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: The novel ''ends'' on one. ''[[
* [[Cosmic Retcon]]: By way of persuading Richard to join his organization, Lazarus arranges for a [[No Party Like a Donner Party|particular unsavory incident]] from Richard's past to have never happened. This is of course to demonstrate the power of the Burroughs device to literally rewrite histories on a whim.
* [[Divided States of America]]: Although not discussed in any great detail, this novel is in the same timeline as ''[[Friday (
* [[Eat the Dog]]: When passing through Lunar customs, Gwen claims to keep a baby alligator in her purse and declares it to the agent as a pet and possibly food.
* [[Every Man Has His Price]]: Richard and Gwen bribe their way through Luna, where this seems to be standard operating practice. Richard himself appears incorruptible but succumbs to a more indirect form of bribery: having his past rewritten.
* [[Extruded Book Product]]: Richard claims to write pulp romance novels of no literary merit purely to [[Money, Dear Boy|pay his bills]]. He says he tried writing war novels, but his personal experience made it impossible for him to write stories that readers would accept due to [[Reality Is Unrealistic]].
* [[Free
* [[Genius Breeding Act]]: The Burroughs from ''[[The Number of the Beast]]'' have by this point in their continuity had a number of children among themselves and with Libby Andy Long, all of whom are indeed supergeniuses.
* [[Handicapped Badass]]: Richard walks with a cane thanks to an artificial foot -- the original was lost in war. On Tertius, he gets a clone graft replacement.
* [[Have We Met Yet?]]: Due to the sheer quantity of overlapping time sequences in the novel, "Are we inverted?" becomes something of a [[Running Gag]].
* [[
* [[I Know You Know I Know]]: Lazarus and his enemies at times seem to be playing this sort of game, in a Sherlock and Moriarty fashion, over who can be more successful at making their manipulations stick. At one point, an entire planet is [[Earthshattering Kaboom|nova bombed]] by their adversaries, after which his team of genius mathematicians figures out a scheme to rescue all its people just prior to the event, so that the attack appeared to be successful but nobody was actually lost.
* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"]]: A rather involved discussion takes place regarding the cultural ramifications of the spelling and pronunciation of the name Tolliver/Talliafero. It turns out to be a [[Red Herring]] anyway.
* [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]]: All of the protagonists are this, another Heinlein trademark.
* [[Left Hanging]]: Some of the characters at the end. This is in part to expand on the concept of characters being written by an eternal and possibly ambivalent Author.
* [[Love Interest]]: Gwen gets Richard to marry her in the first chapter, invoking this trope as a means of ensuring that he'll have a reason to do what she wants, while making him think it's all his idea.
* [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]]: Courtesy of World as Myth, the novel features characters from:
** ''[[Glory Road (
** ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]''
** ''[[The Number of the Beast]]''
** ''[[Stranger in
** ''[[Time Enough for Love]]''
* [[Monowheel Mayhem]]: Richard and Gwen are attacked on the Moon by a heavily armed monowheel. It looks anachronistic because it is; it's one of the rival time factions trying to kill him.
Line 49 ⟶ 64:
* [[Perspective Flip]]: In one alternate universe, Albert Einstein is seen as a villain worse than even Adolf Hitler, because he is blamed for the invention of nuclear weapons.
* [[Precocious Crush]]: Gretchen on Luna develops a crush on Richard. She enlists in the Time Corps and ages up in a different timeline, just so she can bundle with Richard when she gets back -- a few months later from his perspective.
* [[Privately
* [[Rage Against the Author]]: At the end, Richard rails against the kind of Author who would violate [[Infant Immortality]] by {{spoiler|killing a kitten}}.
* [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]: [[Discussed Trope]]. Richard is a retired colonel and tried writing war novels, but couldn't sell them because he wrote too accurately.
* [[Ret
* [[Ripple
* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: At the end, {{spoiler|Gwen and Richard are both wounded (Gwen severely), and have been left behind in the retreat from Mike's mainframe. They have no way of knowing if the mission was successful, and are certain to die if their enemies return to finish them off}}. Part of Richard's [[Rage Against the Author]] has to do with this.
* [[Spank the Cutie]]: Young Gretchen offers to let Richard spank her. He turns her down, telling her to grow up first. Thanks to [[Time Travel]], she does, and reinstates the offer.
Line 61 ⟶ 76:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
▲[[Category:The World As Myth]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The}}
| |||