Stranger in a Strange Land

On Mars, human colonists prepare for another expedition. On Earth, among other political events, the Fosterite Church proclaims Digby a saint after his mysterious disappearance. In the afterlife, Foster cautions Digby not to retaliate against Smith, but instead to “Get Happy, Junior!” (268). At the compound, Jubal notices a change in Smith: a more confident, deeper voice: “Jubal decided that Mike had joined the human race” (269). One morning, Smith announces that he and Gillian are leaving.

Sometime later, Smith is working as a magician in a traveling carnival with Gillian as his assistant (although their employment is terminated because he doesn’t understand the grift, the “showmanship”). Their “meandering” continues, a strategy to stay out of the public spotlight. Meanwhile, Gillian’s grasp of Martian—both language and culture—grows until she develops a telepathic link with Smith. They drive back to their hotel and bathe just as another carnie (Patricia, the “tattooed lady”) shows up to bid them goodbye.

Patricia strips down to her underwear and describes her tattoos, many of them depictions of the prophet Foster. She intends to convert them to Fosterism. When Smith disappears her underwear, they have no choice but to tell her who he really is. They share water and then make love, a ritual Smith has begun to appreciate on a purely physical, human level. Patricia then preaches to them the Fosterite dogma of happiness and love.

The Fosterite Church is layered, like nesting dolls: an “outer” church for the merely curious, a “middle” church for tithing members, and an “Inner Church” for clergy and for the saved—a “Dionysian cult that America had lacked and for which there was enormous potential market” (290). Patricia confides some of the inner workings of the Church—at “Happiness meetings,” anything goes, for example—but despite the hedonism of the Inner Church, she groks the spiritual concept that God is within everyone. As she prepares to depart with the carnival, Smith kisses her breast and leaves a mark, a “stigmata.”

Foster and Digby look down upon Smith, Gillian, and Patricia, Digby furious that Patricia refers to Smith as “Archangel Michael.” Foster cautions Digby that his preoccupation with Smith—who may indeed be an Archangel—is not very “angelic.” He sends Digby on an angel-in-training assignment, to study “a race of tripolarity” (299).

As Smith and Gillian prepare to move on, he asks her if she’d like to get married. She demurs, not wanting to “crowd out” the other women in their lives (Dorcas, Miriam, Anne, Patricia). They make their way to Las Vegas, where Smith takes a job as a croupier and Gillian as a showgirl (she doesn’t resent the lecherous stares like she used to). She tries to describe the concept of a “naughty picture” but can only demonstrate it. Later that evening, Smith watches her performance. He can perceive the world through her eyes, grokking the lust audience members feel for her.

In San Francisco, Smith studies the texts from a multitude of religions, but he is forced to admit he will never understand. He cannot overcome his Martian upbringing. He wonders if when humans die, they simply cease to exist, without a soul to join the Old Ones. She responds that, when her body dies, her soul (for lack of a better word) will live on. Smith laments that, for humans, only three paths exist for comprehending the universe—science, philosophy, and religion—but they are all inadequate.

They decide to take a trip to Southern California with Patricia, but first, they go to the zoo. Observing the animals helps them both understand more clearly what it means to be human (the good and the bad). Watching monkeys assert dominance over the smaller ones—beating them—Smith begins to laugh uncontrollably (the first time he’s ever laughed). She rushes him home, and he tells her that, at last, “I grok people!” (312). Laughter and humor, he argues, are how humans deal with tragedy. And by grokking people, he has become one. He is suddenly aware of the totality of human sadness, and he wants to change it. He asks how he can become ordained.