Synopsis:

Part One: Universe

    Young Hugh Hoyland and two friends are exploring the forbidden upper-reaches of the Ship when they are attacked by a mutie. Escaping unharmed, they descend toward home, their weight increasing with each successive deck. They live among a primitive human society called the crew, which in many ways is barely above the level of cave dwellers. Few can count, even fewer can read and write. They wear loin cloths.

    The interior of an interstellar craft forms their entire universe. The Starship Vanguard is a huge cylinder, miles long, with dozens of decks encircling the center like a tree's concentric rings. It rotates around its long axis to produce an artificial sense of gravity that increases in proportion to distance from the center. The Vanguard launched from Earth many generations in the past on an expedition to Proxima Centauri. There was a mutiny leading to the deaths of 90% of the ship's population. Cultural breakdown followed, and the ship's nature and purpose were lost. A primitive religion has grown up around the myths and half-truths regarding their origins.  Leading the crew intellectually and politically are the scientists and the officers. Their traditional enemies are the muties (for "mutineers" and/or "mutants").

    As he grows to adulthood, Hoyland demonstrates his intellect and curiosity and is chosen to serve as a scientist. On a mission to search out and destroy the muties, he is captured by a grotesque dwarf and delivered to an old wise mutie gang boss, Joe-Jim, who makes him a slave. A benevolent master, the two-headed Joe-Jim shows Hoyland the mythic Main Control Room and Captains's Veranda and finally convinces him that the Ship is not the universe but simply a small part of it.

    Living among the muties for years, Hoyland learns much about the origins of the Ship and its people. Inspired to start up the main drive and resume the Trip, Hoyland convinces Joe-Jim that they need the help of the scientists. He returns to "civilization" and goes to visit his former friend, now Chief Engineer, Bill Ertz. Hoyland is arrested and condemned to death for heresy in challenging the Ancient Teachings. Another old friend, Alan Mahoney, comes to his aid by organizing a rescue party from among Hoyland's mutie friends. In the fight they capture Bill Ertz and take him with them back upward to "low-weight."
 

Part Two: Common Sense

    Seeing the stars for the first time, Ertz is faced with the truth about the Ship and agrees to join their cause. He and Mahoney are sent back down to "high-weight" to convince others. Their prime target this time: Commander Phineas Narby, the Captain's executive assistant. Eager to overthrow the old Captain, Narby joins the conspiracy of renegade crew and muties. He uses his new knowledge and contacts to gain political power, then turns on his comrades. Once he has become the new captain, Narby decides that The Truth is too disturbing to be shared widely, and wants to spend his efforts consolidating his political power.

    Meanwhile, Hoyland and Joe-Jim discover that one of the stars ahead of the ship has been growing noticeably larger. They deduce that the ship is moving forward and that the star must be their intended destination, Proxima Centauri. They care little about Ship politics or the traditional religion; they want everyone to know the real nature of the universe.

    Hoyland cannot understand Norby's bureaucratic mindset that freedom and truth should be sacrificed for the good of social and/or religious order.

    " 'It seems to me, somehow, that truth ought to be available to any one -- any time!'  He threw up his hands in a gesture of baffled exasperation.

    "Joe-Jim looked at him oddly. 'What a curious idea,' said Joe.

    " 'Yeah, I know. It's not common sense, but it seems like it ought to be.' "

    Readers might note that the title for the second half of this novel, "Common Sense," comes from the line above.

    When the deadline arrives to start the engines and begin correction maneuvers, Captain Narby forbids it. He would rather maintain the status quo even if it means letting the Ship drift forever. He attempts to kill or imprison his former co-conspirators, but Ertz, Hoyland, Mahoney, and their wives survive the battle and make their way to the one remaining escape craft. They blast away from the Ship and head toward a giant planet, landing on one of its moons. It has an atmosphere and indiginous life, and they make a new home there.
 

Comments:

    There is much of interest here besides the juvenile adventure story that Orphans of the Sky appears to be at first glance. Our hero, Hoyland, is  cast as a latter-day Galileo, a heretic battling religious/political leaders who believe their little world to be the heart and totality of the cosmos.  In his trial, Hoyland contends, regarding the Ship, "Nevertheless -- Nevertheless -- it still moves!", an approximation of the words Galileo is alleged to have whispered, "E pur si muove!" after his abjuration before the Inquisition ("But it does move!").

    One of the features that draws me to Heinlein is that throughout his books he presents situations that force the reader to reassess cultural taboos. He doesn't necessarily telegraph his own opinion: a story will seem to favor one position for a while, then before long it will appear to favor the position that is diametrically opposed. (The best case in point might be Stranger in a Strange Land. His biting satire was lost on many readers and Heinlein was later shocked to discover his fans establishing congregations of "The Church of All Worlds.")

    In Orphans, we first come to know the crew as pleasant, simple, hardworking folk. We share their fear and hatred of the despised enemy, the cannibalistic muties. Then we later come to know the muties, and discover that despite their physical and social shortcomings they are, in fact, a noble and likeable people as well.

    Heinlein often presents intractable questions. Because of the unshielded radiation that bathes the interior of the ship, about one in 20 births yields a child with disfiguring mutations. The crew's tradition is to kill them -- a brutal form of eugenics quite common in primitive cultures. The muties' tradition is to let them live -- they are cannibals with hearts.  How does the reader feel about euthanasia as a common practice? On the other hand, how does the reader feel about a society in which grotesque mutants are the norm rather than the exception? Heinlein doesn't help us find easy answers.

    As in so many of Heinlein's books, the plot here touches on religion. The crew's god is Jordan, the ancient, near-mythical creator of the Ship. Their devil is Huff, the leader of the age-old mutiny. Any public revelation that the universe is in fact much larger than the Ship could cause the crew's faith in Jordan to be seriously eroded.  Individuals and society as a whole would be devastated. What happens when Truth contradicts established religion?  Again, there are no easy answers.

    Though not anti-religion, Heinlein appears in many of his writings to be a free-thinker. His favorite questions regarding religion seem to be "why" and "what if...." Sometimes phoney religions are established to accomplish a specific purpose (e.g., in Sixth Column), sometimes a religious leader is the villain (e.g., Jeremiah Scudder and the succession of Prophets Incarnate that play significant roles in his "Future History" series). Sometimes a religious leader is the hero.  The main character in Job is a fundamentalist minister whom God decides to "test" as He did the prophet Job in the Old Testament. Mike's "Church of All Worlds" in Stranger is perhaps the most familiar of Heinlein's invented religions. In Methuselah's Children, the title refers to the Old Testament personage who inspired Heinlein to create a society of long-lived people, the Howard families. What caused the Howard families on two different occasions to leave their adopted homes? It was in a sense religious conflicts with their hosts.

    Orphans is a book that can be understood at multiple levels. Read it twice.