All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein

All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein

Baby is left in an orphanage

• She grows up
• Meets a man and has sex
• Man leaves and then she finds out she is pregnant

• Has a C-Section
• Surgeon notices she also has male sex organs-- knowing that her female sex organs are destroyed he changes her into a he
• Wakes up to find that her sex has changed and her/his baby is stolen

He becomes a journalist, using the pen name "Unmarried Mother"

The Unmarried Mother meets a man in a bar and agrees to a bet (given by the stranger who is a Time Agent) that his story is the craziest one he has ever heard

• The stranger offers the unmarried mother a job
• He accepts
• The 2 travel back in time; he meets his past female-self and seduces her
• The time agent steals the baby

Unmarried Mother becomes the Time Agent

We believe that in the story "All You Zombies" Heinlein does not do a good job of conveying the idea that people should be independent and self- reliant.

The first line of the story reads,"2217 Time Zone V (EST) 7 Nov. 1970- NYC "Pop's Place"(402).

• The author could have made this simpler
• He uses jargon like "2217 Time Zone V"(402) without explaining what it means to the reader
• Leaves the reader confused from the very beginning of the story

All suspense that the author hoped to save until the end of the story is revealed before the final pages; this doesn't keep the reader engaged.

"'Now you know who he is- and after you think it over you'll know who you are ... and if you think hard enough, you'll figure out who the baby is... and who I am.'"(412)

• The author foreshadows the reveal which takes away the suspense
• The reader can guess the the two characters are actually just one character

• Reader’s like “so? I already guessed that? Is this supposed to be a shock to me?”
• Lack of suspense is boring for the reader
• Combine this with the confusing plot the reader gets frustrated and just wants to stop reading as soon as possible

• The surgeon (a man) decides for her to change her sex.
• Assumes she would want to be a man because then life would be easier
• This is just one of several instances in the story where women are portrayed at weak.

• When it comes down to it all you have in the end is yourself
• There was really only one character in the entire story and he/she did all the work for his/herself

Therefore, because of a confusing plot, a lack of suspense, and two strong messages, Heinlein does not do a good job of conveying the message that people should be independent in the short story "All You Zombies".

The message: People should be more independent and self- reliant

Plot Summary

Here's Why:

Although time travel is necessary for the for plot that the writer has created to be possible, it confuses the reader and draws their attention away from the message.

There are two different messages that the author could have been trying to convey which draws attention away from both of the messages.

"A Caesarean leaves a big scar but I'm so hairy now that I don't notice unless I look for it."(414)

“There isn’t anybody but me- Jane- here alone in the dark.”(414)

“‘They could never be any use to you again, so we took them out and rearranged things so that you can develop properly as a man.’”(407)