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understand many things, including the language of the Hard Ones: they use air vibrations instead of the energy exchange or telepathic communication of the Soft Ones. |
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All of this, however, including Dua's concern about the people in the other Universe, which leads to the sending of the messages (a consequence, perhaps, of her seldom-used Emotional attributes), is reinforced by the main narrative structure, of which the relationship between the Universes is a subordinate part. The main structure concerns the triad and the working out of its problems: Tritt's desire for an Emotional and then a baby Emotional; Odeen's attempt to keep the triad harmonious, his pleasure with Dua, and his greater love for Tritt; and mostly Dua's difference and her desire to understand her situation and to avoid producing a baby Emotional and passing on. In addition to the narrative conflicts, the reader enjoys the science-fictional delight of the working out of the alien tripartite life form. |
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Moreover, Part II has a plentiful supply of Asimov's favorite fictional device: the mystery. Several mysteries demand solutions. Who are the Hard Ones, and why do they never talk about themselves? Why do they teach the Rationals, and what is their relation to the Soft Ones? What happens to Soft Ones when they pass on? Who is Estwald, and why does he never appear? Other intriguing questions are raised to be answered by the events of the story. |
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Beyond this are the philosophical and psychological comments implied by the narrative, and the style in which the narrative is presented. In Part I Asimov drew upon his experience to describe the nature of scientists and the process of science. In Part II he drew upon his experience with people on a more intimate level to describe the relationships between the sexes, even if there are three of them. The tripartite nature of the Soft Ones, who eventually combine into one mature Hard One, allowed Asimov to deal with the multiple facets of human psychology. |
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A psychologist might suspect that Asimov's Emotional, Parental, and Rational represent Freud's Id, Superego, and Ego. Elizabeth Anne Hull, in an article published in Extrapolation (Summer 1981), analyzed the novel, including Parts I and III, according to Eric Berne's transactional analysis, and its "child," "parent," and "adult." Asimov denied that he knew anything about transactional analysis or Freud, and added, a bit disingenuously perhaps (for he made his fortune out of rendering obscure material comprehensible), that he probably would not have understood them if he did. |
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No one need accept Asimov's statements about himself as absolute |
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