Gunner Cade by Cyril Judd
Gunner Cade is a character set within a science fiction narrative that explores themes of personal growth, identity, and societal constraints. He is portrayed as an Armsman of the Realm of Man, whose journey begins with his capture by a rebellious religious cult, leading to a profound internal struggle. Cade grapples with the ascetic teachings of Klin Philosophy, which emphasize devotion to a triumvirate of authority figures, while also confronting his own ideals and limitations.
Throughout the story, Cade becomes obsessed with Lady Jocelyn, the Emperor's niece, who plays a crucial role in helping him deprogram from the brainwashing inflicted by the cult. As Cade seeks deeper understanding, he learns about the empire's true history and the values of free thought, contrasting sharply with the rigid doctrines he has followed. His interactions with various characters, including a thief named Fledwick, provide alternate perspectives on morality and life outside the strictures of his previous beliefs.
Set against a backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world, where the remnants of a global atomic war have shaped societal attitudes toward warfare, Cade's journey culminates in his decision to join the rebellion on Mars, symbolizing his personal rebirth and the embrace of a more liberated mindset.
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Gunner Cade
First published: 1952 (serial form, Astounding Science-Fiction, March-May, 1952)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—future war
Time of work: About c.e. 12,000
Locale: Earth, aboard a space flier, and Mars
The Plot
Although Cyril Kornbluth devised the initial outline of Gunner Cade, he and Judith Merril collaborated in a full sense in the actual writing, alternating rough drafts of chapters and revising each others work. The story follows the adventures and misadventures of Cade, a Gunner-ranked Armsman of the Realm of Man, from the time of his ignominious capture by a rebellious religious cult to his moment of victory, both personal and military, during the first battle between Earth’s Armsmen and rebellious Mars forces.
Cade follows a path of discovery, seeking better understanding of himself and his world. The greatest obstacles on his path lie within himself. As a Brother in the Order of Armsmen, he has thoroughly assimilated the ascetic doctrines of Klin Philosophy, a set of verbal formulas that focus his mind on devoted service to a triumvirate: the Gunner Supreme, the Power Master, and the Emperor.
Shortly after his capture by the cult, Cade meets a woman who becomes his obsession. Constrained by his brainwashing, he can only equate her with the idealized woman who greets a Gunner at the point of honorable death. He later learns that she is Lady Jocelyn, niece of the Emperor. Believing that he has learned important secrets while with the cult and knowing no other course of action because he has been officially pronounced dead, Cade seeks out the Gunner Supreme and the Power Master. He obtains interviews but finds his life put in jeopardy each time.
Because of these treacheries, Cade opens himself to the teaching of Lady Jocelyn, who proves to be of vital assistance in his deprogramming. Jocelyn tells him the true history of the empire and convinces him of the importance of free thought. Cade also learns about seedier and more practical aspects of life from the thief Fledwick, whom he meets as a jailmate and who embodies values contrary to Cade’s “clean” philosophy.
Ten thousand years before the story opens, the Realm of Man rose out of the ashes of global atomic warfare on Earth. One metaphoric fallout shapes the Realms attitudes and makes itself felt particularly in the petty and formalized warfare between the states of the empire, in which the Armsmen are employed: Everyone shares a deep-seated revulsion against attack from the air. To even think of attacking an enemy from a flier marks one for disgrace.
Cade breaks completely from Klin Philosophy, even to the point of questioning his deep-seated disgust at firing a weapon from a spacecraft. He begins to see the Realm of Man as a static and sterile system in which creative thought and scientific curiosity are moribund. On Mars, however, the challenges of the frontier have helped liberate minds. Cade’s decision to join the rebellion, when poised between Earth and Mars in a thoughtful free-fall moment, marks the beginning of his rebirth.