Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein is most often seen, wrongly according to William H Stoddard, as a racist work due to its portrayal of white people as slaves to black Muslims. Because of this it is not surprising that Farnham’s Freehold’s references to incest, and a society that farms humans for use as food is often overlooked.
The Setting
Colorado 1960's, Americans are expecting a rain of ICBM’s to fall from the sky at any moment. There is a buzz in the air, a mass joining of minds across the country. All thinking about one thing, impending doom. In Farnham’s Freehold Robert Heinlein asks what could happen if the bombs fell.
The Main Character
Hugh Farnham does not care about living, so he says. A family man, he lives largely in a mental world of his own making. Self taught and highly intelligent, he plays by his own book. His purpose is always clear in his mind. That is, until a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union sends his bomb shelter containing himself, his wife, his son and daughter, his servant, and his daughter's sorority sister into a parallel universe.
Humans as a Food Source
Farming humans for food was addressed in H.G. Well's Time Machine (the full text of The Time Machine, Project Gutenberg) Robert Heinlein takes this concept one step further In Farnham’s Freehold. In the time machine the farmers were disagreeable non-human creatures. In Farnham’s Freehold humans farm other humans as a food source.
Perhaps this is the path that Wells would have taken also if he were bold enough to alienate some of his readers. Robert Heinlein had no compunctions of this sort, although, in all fairness to H.G. Wells, Heinlein wrote during a time period that allowed for more open discourse of ideas.
To Repopulate the World we Must…
Farnham's Freehold is essentially a story about Hugh Farnham's struggles in an unfamiliar world. Because the world that Farnham finds himself in seems, at first, to be uninhabited by humans, obvious questions about how to continue the species in this new place arise. This is problematic because only two members of the group are not related to each other.
A discussion between Hugh Farnham and his daughter brings up surprisingly candid ideas about the subject of incest. The daughter’s conclusions and Hugh Farnham’s non-rejection of her ideas are certainly outside the realm of safe writing.
An Evolution in Voice
Robert Heinlein made a career addressing controversial and taboo subjects in his fiction. Farnham’s Freehold is an example of one of his most daring attempts at shocking his readers. Farnham’s Freehold also reads differently than many of Robert Heinlein’s golden age stories. It continues Heinlein’s early change of voice from his golden age stoicism to his much looser new age tone.
Today the threat of nuclear war, although still possible, does not occupy a place of foreboding in our society’s subconscious. In fact, we are now far enough away from the cold war for it to hold an odd sense of nostalgia. Perhaps that is why Farnham’s Freehold is still as entertaining today as it was in 1964.
Farnham's Freehold published by Berkley Medallion Books, Copyright 1964 by Robert A. Heinlein, SBN 425-03125-X
