Heidi Cordsen
English Novel Study Part 2
Blk. BTHE RINGWORLD ENGINEERS
1) Issue
When the Ringworld Engineers created Ringworld, they created a massive salt-water ocean. In this ocean, there are islands the size of our continents. Louis found out that there are many continent sized islands in The Great Sea. He identified them as “maps” of worlds with humanoid inhabitants. The ‘map’ of Earth is life sized, located hundred of thousands of mile to the nearest ‘planet,’ mars. There are also other worlds such as Kzin, Trinoc, Down, and Jinx, located nearest to Earth. All these ‘maps’ are stocked with the humanoids that inhabit the actual planets.
My beef: I think the Ringworld Engineers were Playing God, if you will. First, they create a gigantic artificial world. Then they set aside one little tiny space to make already existing worlds, in their image. But did they consider the humanoids? And also, Ringworld has no disease, parasites, or vicious animals (save the some species of humanoid inhabitants). But could Earth’s Eco-system function without disease, parasites, and vicious animals? If the Engineers created a whole new self-sufficient Eco system, would that modify the life on the individual maps?
Also, the Ringworld is made up of Scrith, and I wonder if there are metallic elements for the world’s inhabitants to use. Could they have so perfectly duplicated the worlds? When Louis flew over Kzin, he saw a gigantic ship in its harbor. Were the Kzin from the small ‘map’ in the Great Ocean setting out to populate other worlds? A human would stand little chance against a fierce Kzinti warrior.
I wonder how they populated a life sized Earth with humans. Did they just abduct a whole town and let them loose? If I could, I think it would be neat to construct replicas of far away worlds then put whatever I wanted on them.
2) Metaphorically…
1) If Louis Wu were a small frightening bug, he’d be an arachnid. Like a trapdoor spider; waiting for the right moment to do anything, be it strike at a passerby, or make a decision, and battling when threatened.
2) As a bird, he’d be most suited to being one of those little songbirds from the Galapagos Islands. They use twigs to stab into otherwise unreachable places in trees to stab at grubs, getting their meals this way. They show others how to do this also, and this is like Louis inventing new ways to fix things, and showing others how to fix things (such as water condensers). Smart.
3) If he were an organ, he’d be a liver. The liver takes in all sorts of goo, filters it, and supplies bile to other parts of the body. Louis takes in information, filters out all the unimportant stuff, and relays the rest back to his superior/captor.
4) He’d be one of those guys that lives in his apartment, never comes out. Or at least know one could figure out how he got out. At his workplace, no one would know anything about him. The cops would get tips about his alleged illegal activity, but no one would ever catch him.
5) If I were going to the hardware store to get some flooring, Louis Wu would be a big role of patterned linoleum. The lines one it would not make a repeating pattern unless you carefully inspected great lengths of the role. Louis is like that. If I were around him enough, I could anticipate what path he’d take, what answers he’d give, what he’d do next.
6) He would definitely be a contestant on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” Like any of the other contestants, he’d make a decision on what he thinks the answer should be. It might not be the right decision, but he’d stick with it. There are many decisions that have to be made by him in the book. He looks over his options, and chooses the best one.
7) Louis as a high school student! Intelligent, but illiterate. Good in math. He’d refrain from alcohol and substance abuse until the end of grade 10. Then, he’d loose himself in a dream world as he did in the book with his current addiction.
8) He’d be a cool high school teacher. For English or Psychology, he’d be free and easy going. He’d do things like take his classes to a televised court battle so that we could later discuss it and pose debates.
9) In Vegas, he’d be the only sign that didn’t have neon in it. He doesn’t draw attention to himself.
10) On the beach, he’d be a hermit crab, out of his shell, in search of a bigger one. Very vulnerable to all the other creatures around him. But the tender mollusk body would camouflage him well, and he is good of staying out of the way. That’s what he’s like! Vulnerable because he’s very low down in the chain of command, but well equipped to stay out of harms way. He just takes risk a lot.
3) Two Passages
“What would the Ringworld Engineers have done? What if some enemy shot away most of the attitude jets? They wouldn’t have built the Ringworld without planning for something like this. I need to know more about them. Get me to the Floating City, Vala.”Like myself, Louis has many questions about the Engineers who built the Ringworld. The attitude jet are positioned along the rim wall of Ringworld, and they give the world the thrust needed to maintain a rotation of about 770 miles a second. But many of the attitude jets are missing, and Ringworld is off center, and will soon collide with it’s sun, killing trillions.
Louis needs to know how to replace the jets, to put Ringworld back on center, saving the architectural wonder. He craves information as a businessman craves coffee in the morning.
"But the natives were that much like civilized humans. They grew old, but not sick."In the rest of know and traveled space, there is a legal drug in circulation, known as boosterspice. This acts as an artificial fountain of youth, accounting for Louis’ longevity. Some of the natives are also very old. But they do not have boosterspice to keep them young. But then again, they do not have wild cats and bears attacking them, and contending with them for food. It seems to be a pretty sterile world, void of parasites, diseases, etc…
4) Character Change
Louis Wu is more compassionate than I originally thought him to beat the beginning of the book. He goes out of his way to help those he comes across, whether or not doing so would result in some kind of gain on his part. He doesn’t immediately kill anyone who fires futilely at him. His Impact Suit stops the projectile. He lets them off with a warning, and slices in half a nearby object with his flashlight laser. The Hindmost (his captor) sent a probe to the library for him. It landed and spread fire and ruble everywhere. People fled. When the dust settled, Louis looked around.
“No dead. Good.” I was surprised by his reaction. I thought he was to entangled in what he was doing to worry about that then.
He’s definitely looking out for those around him now. I think this is because last time he was on Ringworld he destroyed a city. He wants to mend his marred conscience, and give back to the Ringworld. I think as a result of his newfound compassion, he will be a better person. I get the impression that he was cold, uncaring. But this change could also be the result of his withdrawal from his current addiction. But somehow, I don’t think that’s why. He’s back in the real world, and improving it.
The Ringworld Engineers
Part 3
12-14-99
Heidi Cordsen
This book is told through third person limited omniscient. I know what Louis is feeling, and what he’s thinking, but it’s not him describing his feelings. I don’t know about what everyone else is feeling and thinking. I know from their actions how they might feel, because Louis speculates on the others emotions frequently. This is an effective way of writing the book, as it gives me a clearer understanding of what is happening with the main character. I can start to anticipate his next choices, and how he’ll handle different situations.
This book did not fulfil my expectation, as far as being a good book goes. It was very imaginative, but not as much as I hoped it would be. I will read the first book and learn more about the foreign things on Ringworld. I would recommend this novel if you’re looking to loose yourself in a strange world, struggling to figure out what’s going on around you, and what’s happening to you… Or you just want to read something creative.
My prediction as to what the book was about was close. Yes, the main character was trying to find out about the engineers who built Ringworld, but not out of curiosity, like I thought. It was for a purpose, to save Ringworld.
3 On The Line Questions
Why didn’t Louis and Chmee plot to escape their captor earlier on in their adventure?
My confusion is due partly to the lack of description in the book. I didn’t know when their captor’s probe was in transmission range, thus listening in on everything they discussed. I will have to say that they discussed it at the first possible chance they got.
How could Louis give up his current addiction so easily?
I find it hard to believe that a man addicted to a ‘drug’ much more powerful that heroin could suddenly drop the source of his fixes and never pick it up again, even though the opportunity was always there. The author could’ve gone into more detail describing Louis’ feelings. Again, confusion caused partly by the way the book is written.
Why didn’t Louis’ captor stray off track of his original mission?
He was in not danger if Ringworld were to perish (with him far far away, of course). And his species aren’t supposed to have compassion, and on top of that, they are cowardly! Then again, this Pierson’s Puppeteer was different from the rest. He could handle space travel! He’s not genetically different, so maybe he is capable of more emotion than others of his kind.3 Between The Line Questions
Shouldn’t the Engineers that built Ringworld have anticipated a time when Ringworld drifted off its orbit?
Yes, but they should have had Attitude Jets in a more obvious place, so that repair crews and our heroes could save Ringworld more easily. But then the book wouldn’t be as fun.
What happened to the inhabitants of the map of Earth when the Kzin took over their world?
Most of them probably perished, but there might be a few ‘herds’ of them roaming in the wild. Poor humans… Stationed right next to a world of monsters. I think the two maps should’ve bee placed a few hundred thousand miles apart, instead of their actual 80,000 mile. A bigger buffer zone could’ve prevented a hostile take-over, with the result of our race suffering (be it on Earth, or a life sized map of Earth!).
Where did the libraries get their high-tech equipment?
This leaves me with more questions… Did Ringworld have visitors form other places in space, bringing new technology as it advanced? Or did the inhabitants of Ringworld figure out how to make such devices with what they had?3 Beyond The Line Questions
Why aren’t there other civilisations monitoring Ringworld?
Shouldn’t the Engineers have an outpost SOMEWHERE to monitor Ringworld? Wouldn’t they want to study it from afar? Shouldn’t there be SOME humanoid control over Ringworld? It’s all already programmed into the structure itself, every little detail; weather patterns and all. What if they didn’t account for something?… such as a collision with the sun…
Are other civilisations aware of the massive structure known as Ringworld?
I do not know how many species know of Ringworld, but I don’t think everyone does.
Did the Engineers who built the Ringworld want it to be a secret?
You’d think it would be the biggest thing in humanoid history! But the characters in the book have to squander information from wherever they can get it. No one knows who built it, when it was built, motives etc…
Plot:
Basically, Chmee abandons Louis, and Louis teams up with woman. She takes him to the floating city, where he makes a few friends and gains access to the libraries. His captor (who is now more of a team-mate) monitoring him from a remote location, sends a probe to him. He steals a reading machine and several information-packed scrolls to take back to the ship to analyse. Two librarians also go with him.
They meet up with Chmee eventually, and together they put Ringworld back on its orbit. They all must live on Ringworld now, as Louis destroyed the hyperdrive (to ensure Ringworld would not be abandoned without being saved) and the characters go their separate ways to explore.
The plot throughout was definitive, and understandable. It’s just the stuff in between all the major events that is a bit unclear.
Heidi Cordsen
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