So, I’m re-reading Heinline’s If This Goes On… and he mentions several times a group of people the dictatorship in the story calls pariahs. Who, most likely, are the pariahs in this story?
Those who didn’t accept the theocratic rule of Nehemiah Scudder and his cronies, and fled to Canada or elsewhere?
So, I’m correcting the typo in my OP. :drat:
Of course, I do know that the author’s name is Heinlein, not Heinleine. :dratted typos:
I’ve always assumed they were Jews.
Jews, Mormons, Catholics, Episcopalians…anybody who refused to belong to the Church. I always assumed that this meant they didn’t get education, social services, etc. and were confined to the ghetto at night. Very “Jewish” in nature but probably of varied faiths. In fact, doesn’t Heinlein describe on of the pariahs who gets stone as having stereotypical “Jewish” features?
I figured they were Jews as well. There is a description of the one who was caught and stoned by the crowd, and a strong nose, or something similar, is mentioned. And Zeb mentioned " consigned himself to his God."
Yeah, that’s my take. Non-Christians or Christians of faiths aligned outside of whatever denomination Scudder advocated (which I’ve always held as some form of protestantism).
If I remember correctly, Mormons and Catholics were specifically mentioned as being among the pariahs; presumably, there were other faiths represented as well.
They were specifically mentioned as being among the members of the resistance - I don’t think as pariahs. Also, when Johnny was helped to escape, it was mentioned that Catholics did not support Scudder, hence the willingness of the woman to feed and clothe him. Also, also, Johnny himself expressed shock at allowing pariahs to participate in the revolt, something he did not express at Mormons and Catholics.
If I remember right, and all that. I’ll have to dig the tale out when I get home.
Heinlein never mentions the blacks in that story; I wonder what happened to them. Exiled to Liberia? Disappeared into the ovens long before Zeb’s time?
I’d wager money that pariahs are the Jews. For instance, when Zeb and John witness the pariah running for sanctuary, Zeb says “He was probably careless enough to get caught outside the ghetto* after five.” When the man is struck down and draws a cloth acrosss his face, “dark eyes and a strong Roman nose” are mentioned, stereotypical characteristics of Jews. In the caverns Zeb explains to John about how tyrants have always used scapegoats, and what group has so often been used as such? And when the rebellion started, “Joshua’s Army, from the pariah reservations in the northwest, (plus volunteers from all over the world)” was on hand. Take all these things together and I’m pretty sure pariahs are Jews.
*my emphasis
Here’s a quote from Heinlein’s Concerning Stories Never Written: Postscript appended to the end of Revolt in 2100 (which is the collectio of 3 stories; the edition I’m reading was copyrighted last in 1981 & the postscript was dated 1952.
This leads me to think that the pariahs are Jews and Blacks. In the story, the anti-foreigner sentiment of the dictatorship just showed in that the American population was kept completely ignorant of what was happening overseas and said population was fed outright lies about the history and cultures of other countries.
Another thing about the postscript is that although it was written in 1952, I see a lot of what he complains about even today. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”