Rite of Passage

Rite of Passage is a science fiction novel published in 1968 by the American writer and critic Alexei Panshin. The book is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the year 2148, a century after the destruction of Planet Earth. For Rite of Passage, Panshin won the Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Early on in the book, the reader learns that the Earth was destroyed in the year 2041. In the new galactic order established by humanity in the wake of losing its home planet, the upper-class citizens live relatively comfortable lives on giant spaceships. Meanwhile, the lower-class citizens live on a number of barely-hospitable frontier planets that have been colonized out of necessity. The population on the ships is tightly controlled. Families may only procreate if given permission by a centralized Eugenics Council. Breaking this law--or most other laws, for that matter--results in exile to one of the harsh colony planets on the space frontier.

Even children who are the result of approved pregnancies by the Eugenics Council must undergo an arduous rite of passage at the age of fourteen known as Trial. It involves being stranded for thirty days on one of the colony planets with very limited supplies. Most of the participants die. But the ones who survive, the theory goes, will be better-suited to be productive and valuable members of the "Ship-bound" community. It is a process designed to weed out the weak among society, a natural extension of the society's already-twisted eugenics policies.



The protagonist of the story is Mia Havero who, in the year 2148, is on the eve of her thirteenth birthday. That means she's about to join a "survival class" designed to prepare her for Trial. Shortly before her survival class begins, Mia accompanies her father on a trading expedition to a frontier planet known as Grainau. Mia has never met someone from a frontier planet before and only knows them as "Mudeaters," the derogatory term used by the Ship-bound society to describe the presumably primitive frontiersmen and women. While waiting for her father to conclude his business on Grainau, Mia encounters some local children her age. She learns that the people of Grainau and other frontier planets refer to Ship residents like Mia as "Grabbers." That's because they "grab" everything that can be produced on frontier planets, and the only thing they give back in return is a slow trickle of cultural artifacts and technological developments or inventions. These artifacts, the frontier planets believe, belong to all of humanity, and the Ship people shouldn't deprive the frontier people of them in return for certain goods and services. Doing so, they believe, is a form of extortion.

Back on the ship, Mia joins a survival class where she meets a gifted boy named Jimmy Dentremont. While training for survival, the two become friends before eventually falling in love. Unfortunately, the two have a fight shortly before they are sent to the planet Tintera to endure their Trial, and so Mia doesn't ally with him. Upon landing on the planet, Mia must decide whether to employ the tiger strategy or the turtle strategy. The tiger strategy involves acting boldly to assert one's dominance over the environment. The turtle strategy involves spending as much time as possible in hiding. Mia chooses to embrace the tiger strategy despite having to do so alone.

On Tintera, Mia encounters a humanoid species native to the planet known as Losels. Despite the fact that Losels appear to be as intelligent as humans, they are treated like cattle. Mia is also appalled by the complete lack of population control, resulting in a society known as "Free Birthers." Some of the Losel herders attack Mia, and she barely escapes with her life. Unfortunately, they steal the tracking device she needs to locate the Ship at the end of the thirty days. Badly beaten, Mia is taken in by a kindly old man named Daniel Kutsov. A political dissident forced into menial labor, Kutsov helps broaden Mia's horizons by sharing his political opinions about Ship culture versus frontier culture. He also teaches her how to blend in on Tintera so that she isn't killed by those who resent Ship citizens.



After learning that Jimmy has been captured and imprisoned, Mia breaks him out of jail. But before they leave the prison camp, Mia finds that Kutsov has been imprisoned too for being a political dissident. Unfortunately, he is executed before she has a chance to save him.

Mia and Jimmy retreat to the wilderness and set up a tent. That night in the pouring rain, the two have sex. The next day, Mia and Jimmy manage to retrieve their stolen signal devices just in time for the thirty day Trial to be over and for them to return to their home-ship.

Back on the ship, Mia witnesses a political debate over how the Ships should deal with a planet like Tintera, which engages in human slavery and Free Birtherism. At the recommendation of Mia's father, the entire planet of Tintera is annihilated. Mia disagrees with this decision and bemoans her powerlessness to stop it. Jimmy consoles Mia, telling her that someday they'll be the ones calling the shots.



According to science fiction author James Blish, Rite of Passage "is not just another starship book, but a fully realized, lived-in world."