Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin
A "Rite of Passage" refers to a significant transition in an individual's life, often marking the shift from childhood to adulthood. In the context of a futuristic narrative set in the year 2205, the story follows Mia Havero, a young woman living on a spaceship that houses colonists from Earth. After a catastrophic war on Earth, Mia navigates the complex social dynamics between the elitist inhabitants of the spaceship and the colonists, who have been left with limited access to knowledge. Central to Mia's journey is "The Trial," a survival ordeal that all children must face at the age of fourteen, which serves as a crucial rite of passage.
As Mia prepares for and undergoes this challenging experience, she grapples with her identity and the expectations placed upon her by her elitist upbringing. The narrative explores themes of social class, knowledge disparity, and personal growth, as Mia's perspective shifts from that of her privileged background to a more empathetic understanding of the colonists. This transformation is highlighted by her choices during the Trial and her subsequent decisions regarding the fate of the planet Tintera. Ultimately, Mia's story illustrates the complexities and challenges of coming of age in a divided society, providing insights into the broader implications of individual choices in the face of cultural and familial expectations.
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Subject Terms
Rite of Passage
First published: 1968 (shorter version as “Down to the Worlds of Men,” If, 1963)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—post-holocaust
Time of work: c.e. 2205
Locale: Aboard a giant spaceship
The Plot
Rite of Passage is told in the first person by twenty-year-old Mia Havero, who recalls in c.e. 2205 the events culminating in her initiation to adulthood seven years earlier. Mia lives on board one of seven giant spaceships that were launched between 2025 and 2041. The ships carried colonists from Earth to 112 planetary systems shortly before a cataclysmic war destroyed the solar system.
After delivery of the colonists, an intellectual, technocratic elite remained on board each ship, releasing small bits of accumulated knowledge to the colonists in exchange for raw materials. This created ill feelings between the colonists and the inhabitants of the ship. The former believe that the ship people have usurped knowledge that is a common human legacy and call them “Grabbies”; the elitist, highly educated ship people are contemptuous of the barbarian ways of the colonists and call them “Mudeaters.”
To avoid the catastrophic overpopulation that led to the destruction of Earth, strict population control is practiced on the ships; the colonists are “free birthers.” Strategies to contain population growth include eugenic methods as well as “The Trial,” a thirty-day survival ordeal on a rough colony planet that all children have to undergo at the age of fourteen.
Mia’s story begins when she is twelve. Her father is the chairman of the Ship’s Council. He lives separated from her mother, an artist. Mia notices that she is entering puberty but is afraid of the changes that inevitably will lead to her becoming an adult. Her father is surreptitiously trying to ease her along this path by forcing her to confront new situations. They move to a different level of the ship, and together with Jimmy Dentremont, a boy of the same age, she is assigned a new tutor who is a political opponent of her father. She is enticed to go on a visit to the planet Grainau, where she meets colonists face to face for the first time. Unbeknown to her, Jimmy has been carefully selected as her future mate on the basis of their intellectual compatibility.
The main part of the story deals with Mia’s preparing for and undergoing The Trial, her initiation into adulthood that includes her first experience with sex. The lessons in ethics she takes from her tutor and the harrowing experiences on the planet Tintera during her initiation rite change her outlook from the conservative, elitist views of her father to a more liberal and enlightened stance toward the colonists. After only twelve of her twenty-nine fellow initiates are recovered from Tintera, the Ship’s Assembly votes overwhelmingly to destroy the planet in retaliation. Mia and Jimmy vote with the minority, against their parents and elders. Their rite of passage from childhood to adulthood is complete.