Suvin explains that “aliens-utopians, monsters, or simply differing strangers-are a mirror” and that “the mirror is not only a reflecting one, it is also a transforming one” (Suvin, 5). In the story’s case, the mirror of the alien other is the misfit Danton, and yet the mirror is transformed through the fact that Danton is not actually a figure of otherness for readers at all as he is easier to identify with than not. The story also questions what it means to be an outsider in a rapidly expanding universe. In this way, Sheckley places contemporary readers in the position of Danton, which both estranges readers and transforms the mirror reflection of their familiar
Suvin explains that “aliens-utopians, monsters, or simply differing strangers-are a mirror” and that “the mirror is not only a reflecting one, it is also a transforming one” (Suvin, 5). In the story’s case, the mirror of the alien other is the misfit Danton, and yet the mirror is transformed through the fact that Danton is not actually a figure of otherness for readers at all as he is easier to identify with than not. The story also questions what it means to be an outsider in a rapidly expanding universe. In this way, Sheckley places contemporary readers in the position of Danton, which both estranges readers and transforms the mirror reflection of their familiar