Space Irony

This week I read The Stars my Destination, and I really enjoyed it. The main character Gully Foyle is a type you don’t find very often in literature, an anti-hero of sorts, but really more than that just an unlikeable guy. He’s violent, crass, and indifferent, basically the opposite of any traditional hero character. That’s fine though, because Gully isn’t a hero, he’s really just a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time who has selfish motivations.

            This is what, in my opinion, made The Stars my Destination so enjoyable. The whole novel is delicately constructed upon layers and layers of irony. The first big irony, of course, being that the protagonist/hero is such an unlikeable guy. However, most of the irony in the novel comes from dramatic irony, where the reader knows things that other characters don’t. This novel has some of the best dramatic irony I’ve ever read; the best example would have to be how Gully was suspected of everything from terrorism to spying when in reality he really just wanted to blow up a ship that didn’t rescue him in an act of petty revenge. There is just such an absolute inability for these two sides to reconcile into one coherent, mutually understood truth. The PyrE foundation is so concerned with the solar-sytem-wide war that they can’t comprehend that someone would blow up a ship for such a reason; at the same time, Gully is so narrowminded on his goal that he doesn’t stop to think of outside consequences. The drama this ends up creating is just incredible. Once even more layers of complexity are added on (such as the valuable contents of Gully’s ship’s cargo) the drama just develops tenfold.

            I was afraid as I was reading that the climax would never be able to follow up to the immense amount of drama/irony built up. Luckily, I was wrong! The ending was very much satisfying, as it wrapped up all the loose ends while adding one last layer of irony. It is revealed that Gully’s revenge—his whole reason for living—was ultimately pointless. This was just such a great twist, especially because if readers didn’t like Gully up until this point, they definitely had to feel a little bad for him now.

            To me, this novel has aspects of the survival/adventure genre aimed at young boys, in which a lone wolf protagonist is stranded in a harsh uncaring environment and has to survive and thrive alone. The way that Gully develops a sort of tunnel vision towards his ultimate goal is reflective of how in survival stories, the protagonist must rid himself of all unnecessary feelings if he is to survive in the wilderness. Plus, the disconnect between Gully and the government has the same sort of feeling as wilderness survivors in this genre have a disconnect after returning to the real world. There is just no way to reconcile two such different experiences, and no way to explain it to someone who hasn’t experienced it.