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The Puppet Masters (novel): Difference between revisions
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{{work|wppage=The Puppet Masters}}
{{Infobox book
| title = The Puppet Masters
| image = Pm51_8435.jpg
| caption = US First Edition dust jacket cover
| author = Robert A. Heinlein
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Alien Invasion
| publication date = 1951
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
''The Puppet Masters'' is a novel by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] about an [[Alien Invasion]], first published in 1951. This was the only novel Heinlein published on the subject and he cemented most of the tropes usually associated with invasion stories.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Girlfriend]]: Mary. To be precise, she's a [[The Gunslinger|Gunwoman]].
*[[Adaptation Distillation]]: Loosely adapted into the 1958 sci fi film ''The Brain Eaters''. Heinlein later sued for plagiarism, as he hadn't authorized the adaptation. Notable for one of the first film appearances of [[Leonard Nimoy]].
** Then adapted officially in 1994. This version moves the film to the present day, and loses a few of the subplots.
* [[Alien Abduction]]: The aliens have been abducting humans for years, possibly centuries, as part of the plan to conquer Earth. It turns out that the protagonist's [[Love Interest]] was abducted from a human colony on Venus as a child; this provides a key to the eventual defeat of the invasion.
* [[Aliens Are Bastards]]: Though it may also be an example of [[Blue and Orange Morality]], as the aliens claim that they want {{spoiler|humans to be truly free}}, and the reader is never told whether they are lying. Or, it may be an allusion to [[Dirty Communists]].
* [[Aliens in Cardiff]]: The invasion begins in Grinnell, Iowa.
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* [[Eagle Land]]: Flavor 1.
* [[Easily-Thwarted Alien Invasion]]: The solution is reached by logical reasoning rather than detailed research or military strategy, and turns out to be relatively simple.
* [[Embarrassing First Name]]: Sam goes through several false identities. Only late in the novel does he go right up to his father and asks, "Dad, why did you name me Elihu?"
* [[Exposition Intuition]]: Mary. Her intuition helps her to distinguish infected humans from non-infected ones. The author never explains how is she able to do it, though it is implied that this is somehow associated with sexual arousal as something of which only humans are capable.
* [[Extended Disarming]]: There are several tongue-in-cheek references to Mary being [[Action Girl|excessively armed]].
{{quote|
** During a later strip-search he mentions that Mary "added considerably to the pile of hardware. I decided she just plain liked guns."
* [[Government Conspiracy]]: Because of [[The Infiltration]].
* [[Hello, Nurse!]]: A metal neckline and a white sash across her breasts is everything which the nurse taking care of the main character wears up from her waistline.
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Sam and Mary, though it's not clear whether the red color of Mary's hair is natural or not.
* [[If You Won't, I Will]]: Sam is asked to allow one of the title monsters to take control of him as an experiment. He refuses, and discovers that his girlfriend Mary has volunteered to do it and will be going in his place. He reverses himself and agrees to take part.
* [[It's Personal]]: Things really get personal for Sam when {{spoiler|his beloved cat Pirate dies after being infected}}. He mentions his need for revenge in the closing of the book.
* [[Mental Fusion]]: The aliens.
* [[Misanthrope Supreme]]: There are some human beings who do not have masters riding them, who are so vile that they serve as Fifth Columnists to the masters.
* [[Naked People Are Funny]]: In the United States it is very hard to enforce perpetual nudism, which happens to be necessary for safety reasons.
* [[Not My Driver]]: The Old Man reclaims Sam after he's been possessed by a slug by hijacking him in a vehicle.
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* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: This is pretty much the main theme of the book.
** It's worth noting that this book was the former [[Trope Namer]].
* [[
* [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]].
* [[Science Is Bad]]: While the scientific method is acceptable -- even praiseworthy -- when used to combat the Puppet Masters, science-for-science's sake is scorned by the main characters. The feeling is that pure scientists don't actually produce anything useful, unlike engineers.
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* [[Sink or Swim Mentor]]: The Old Man for Sam (but only when America needs it).
* [[So Proud of You]]: Sam and the Old Man.
* [[Society Marches On]]: The novel was published in 1951 and set in 2007. Although the heroine is just as tough and capable as the male lead (sometimes more so), the moment gender roles or romantic relationships come up she turns, hilariously, into June Cleaver.
** People complained about having to walk around bare to the waist (or in bikini tops for women) far more in the book than they probably would have in real life 2007.
* [[Space Elves]]: They are {{spoiler|the race which the aliens apparently exploit on their home planet}}. Supposedly, they were the original inhabitants of [[The Moons of Saturn|Titan]].
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Puppet Masters (novel), The}}
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