Babel-17: Analysis of Major Characters
"Babel-17" is a science fiction novel exploring the complexities of language, identity, and communication through its rich characterizations. At the center is Rydra Wong, a highly skilled poet, cryptographer, and telepathic interstellar captain renowned for her exceptional verbal recall. As she confronts the challenge of deciphering Babel-17—a language that transforms its speakers into saboteurs—Rydra navigates her intricate personal history, including a past triple marriage and the loss of loved ones.
Supporting characters include Dr. Markus T'Mwarba, a trusted friend and mentor; Danil D. Appleby, a customs official who undergoes a transformation in confidence; and General Forester, who develops a romantic interest in Rydra. The crew of Rydra's spaceship, the Rimbaud, features diverse individuals such as Mollya Twa, a resurrected navigator; Callie, a rugged yet kind navigator; and Brass, a half-human pilot with unique physical traits. The narrative also introduces Jebel, a pirate captain with a complex moral compass, and Nyles Ver Dorco, known as The Butcher, whose mysterious past and struggles with identity play a crucial role in the unfolding plot. Through these characters, "Babel-17" delves into themes of linguistic manipulation and the profound impacts of communication on relationships and selfhood.
Babel-17: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Samuel R. Delany
First published: 1966
Genre: Novel
Locale: Aboard various spaceships and on several planets of the Alliance
Plot: Science fiction
Time: The distant future
Rydra Wong, the protagonist, the most famous poet in five galaxies. Although she is only twenty-six years old, she already is considered to be the voice of her age. In addition to writing poetry, Rydra is a skilled cryptographer, a linguist, and an interstellar captain. These fields of accomplishment, as diverse as they seem, are all aided by Rydra's total verbal recall. She always had this talent to some degree but developed it rapidly after a severe illness in her youth. Rydra also is telepathic and frequently knows what people will say before they say it. Her own assessment of this skill, however, is that she is merely “reading” the expressions of others with great precision. By the time that she was twelve, Rydra had learned seven Earth languages and five extraterrestrial tongues. In the intervening years, Rydra studied many other forms of communication, including six languages used by the Invaders. She is considered very beautiful and has high cheekbones, copper-colored pupils, and East Asian features. Her hair is long and frequently cascades over her shoulders. Five years earlier, Rydra was part of a triple, a form of marriage among three people. One of the partners has died and another, suffering from an incurable illness, has been placed in suspended animation. She is enlisted by the military of the Alliance to break the secret code called Babel-17. She discovers that the language is a version of the enemy within, a parasitical system of signification that causes the human host to become a saboteur against the Alliance. Her improved version of the language, Babel-18, shifts the balance of power to the Alliance.
Dr. Markus (Mocky) T'Mwarba, a psychologist and teacher. When Rydra was twelve, she was sent to T'Mwarba for treatment in psychotherapy and neurotherapy. Since that time, they have become close friends. T'Mwarba holds a black belt in Aikido and is the one person in whom Rydra places complete trust.
Danil D. Appleby, a customs official who helps Rydra assemble the crew of the Rimbaud. With his crew-cut red hair and wire-rimmed glasses, Appleby is, at first, the very image of the punctilious bureaucrat. After meeting Rydra, however, he develops a new sense of confidence and humor, coming to enjoy wrestling matches and ultimately even undergoing cosmetisurgery to have a mechanical dragon implanted in his shoulder as a decoration.
General Forester, the officer supervising the deciphering of Babel-17. Forester is a large man in his fifties; he is authoritarian and has a brisk and efficient manner. He falls in love with Rydra almost immediately upon meeting her.
Mollya Twa, the Navigator-One on the twenty-one-person crew of Rydra's spaceship, the Rimbaud. An attractive woman from Pan Africa, Mollya had committed suicide (being placed in suspended animation) seven years earlier, when her two conavigators were killed. Rydra, in need of a Navigator-One, has Mollya restored to life for the mission. Mollya has short, graphite-colored hair. Initially, she speaks only Kiswahili, but she learns English quickly.
Callie, the Navigator-Two on the Rimbaud crew. Calli seems rough and threatening upon first acquaintance, but he is competent and good-hearted. His face is heavily pockmarked, and he has mechanical lights implanted all over his chest, shoulders, arms, and legs.
Ron, the Navigator-Three. A small, thin man of about nineteen, Ron was the youngest member of an earlier triple, which had also included Calli. As a result, he is the one who grieves most deeply over the loss of their former Navigator-One, Cathy. Towheaded and sapphire-eyed, Ron has muscles that are sharply defined. His only cosmetisurgery is a rose that emerges from his shoulder.
Brass, who is half human and half animal. He is the pilot of the Rimbaud. Brass is very muscular, with brass claws, yellow plush paws, golden eyes, and a mane. While walking, he prefers to move about on all fours. Cosmetisurgically implanted fangs have left Brass unable to pronounce the sound of the letter p. He is chosen as pilot for the Rimbaud after Rydra watches him wrestle, a skill that illustrates the reflexes of potential pilots.
The Slug, a fat man whose eyes, hair, and thin beard are all black. The Slug moves slowly but thinks quickly and performs a number of supervisory functions on the Rimbaud,including that of ship's medic.
Jebel, the pirate captain of the spaceship Jebel Tarik (“Jebel's mountain”). Jebel commands a “shadow ship” that hides in the Specelli Snap. He lives by hijacking the ships of the Invaders and, when necessary, those of the Alliance. Jebel is craggy faced and wears outmoded clothing, including a plastic garment that automatically contours to his body like armor. He drapes a deep-piled black cloak over one shoulder and wears high-laced sandals. Jebel's cosmetisurgery includes false silver hair and metallic eyebrows. One thick silver ring hangs from a distended earlobe.
Nyles Ver Dorco, called The Butcher, one of the most important crew members on the Jebel Tarik. The Butcher is a mysterious figure who has no knowledge of his own past and does not understand the terms (or concepts of) “I” and “you.” He is muscular and round-shouldered and wears only a breechcloth. Cocks' spurs, used as brass knuckles, have been grafted onto his wrists and heels. His hair is amber but has been closely shaved. The Butcher is branded with the convicts' mark from the penal caves of Titin. The mission to decipher Babel-17 eventually becomes a mission to determine the Butcher's identity. After he was captured by the Invaders, Babel-17 was implanted in his mind. Following his discovery by Rydra Wong, he is given a new identity that helps him counteract the effects of linguistically induced schizophrenia.