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Breeds There a Man...?

118 statements
22 feature instances
8 referencing feature instances

Breeds There a Man...?	type	TVTItem
Breeds There a Man...?	label	Breeds There a Man...?
Breeds There a Man...?	page	BreedsThereAMan
Breeds There a Man...?	comment	First published in Astounding Science Fiction (June 1951 issue), by Isaac Asimov, this Science Fiction novelette is about a suicidal genius.The story begins with a cop describing why he's had to arrest an apparently crazy person. The crazy person turns out to be Dr. Elwood Ralson, a physicist working for a top-secret American research team. With his suicidal tendencies made clear, the government decides to hire a psychiatrist to help cure Dr. Ralson's delusions so that he can continue work on their top-secret project.Dr. Gottfried Blaustein is introduced to Dr. Ralson and his psychoses. The government provides Blaustein with answers to the most casual inquiries into Ralson's job and environment. Meanwhile, Ralson explains his theories on why he feels Driven to Suicide; The world is a incubator for life, and humanity is being run through a bizarre experiment by some nearly-omnipotent aliens interested in their development, but the experimenters have installed limits in people's minds that cause self-destructive impulses to curb the advancement of science and technology that could see the human race grow out of their control, which he likens to a ring of penicillin in a petri dish cultivating a dangerous bacteria, keeping it from spreading too far.Dr. Ralson offers several anecdotal pieces of evidence to support his beliefs, including the cyclical nature of empires and the high frequency of death in scientists who work on classified information. Nobody really seems convinced, and the government pressures Dr. Blaustein to bring Ralson back to work soon. The clock of doom ticks closer to midnight and America's best chance is developing force fields to repel atomic bombs."Breeds There a Man...?" was republished ten times; Beachheads In Space (1952), From Other Worlds (1964), Through A Glass Clearly (1967), Nightfall and Other Stories (1969), Writers Choice Volume II (1984), The Edge Of Tomorrow (1985), Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 13 (1951) (1985), Robot Dreams Collection (1986), The Asimov Chronicles: Fifty Years of Isaac Asimov (1989), and The Complete Stories, Volume 1 (1990).
Breeds There a Man...?	fetched	2024-03-19T07:31:15Z
Breeds There a Man...?	parsed	2024-03-19T07:31:15Z
Breeds There a Man...?	isPartOf	DBTropes
Breeds There a Man...? / int_1448bff3	type	Mental Health Recovery Arc
Breeds There a Man...? / int_1448bff3	comment	Mental Health Recovery Arc: Dr. Ralson is the mental patient, a physicist who is Driven to Suicide, but instead of following the story from his perspective, we see the efforts of the people around him to help him overcome the urge to self-harm and continue developing force fields for the American government during the Cold War.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_1448bff3	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_1448bff3	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_1448bff3
Breeds There a Man...? / int_234073a4	type	Your Mind Makes It Real
Breeds There a Man...? / int_234073a4	comment	Your Mind Makes It Real: Most of the people trying to help Dr. Ralson don't believe in his "alien experimenters", but Dr. Blaustein, his psychiatrist, points out that it doesn't matter if the aliens exist or not, so long as Ralson associates his suicidal tendencies with advanced science/technology.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_234073a4	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_234073a4	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_234073a4
Breeds There a Man...? / int_2439b588	type	As the Good Book Says...
Breeds There a Man...? / int_2439b588	comment	As the Good Book Says...: Dr. Ralston quotes from part of Book of Psalms 90:4 ("For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by"), describing how a long-lived alien race might see humans as having lives as short as mayflies.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_2439b588	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_2439b588	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_2439b588
Breeds There a Man...? / int_42215dce	type	Ambiguous Ending
Breeds There a Man...? / int_42215dce	comment	Ambiguous Ending: Dr. Ralston completes the force field and then kills himself, leaving a note saying that it doesn't matter, because the work is complete — once civilisation can't wiped out by atomic war, humanity is "past the penicillin" and beyond recall. Blaustein is left wondering if he was right after all.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_42215dce	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_42215dce	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_42215dce
Breeds There a Man...? / int_465780af	type	Facial Markings
Breeds There a Man...? / int_465780af	comment	Facial Markings: Dr. Ralston has a distinctive chemical scar on his cheek.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_465780af	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_465780af	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_465780af
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4668be6f	type	Distinguishing Mark
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4668be6f	comment	Distinguishing Mark: Dr. Ralston has a distinctive chemical scar on his cheek.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4668be6f	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4668be6f	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_4668be6f
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4d92da97	type	Get into Jail Free
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4d92da97	comment	Get into Jail Free: Dr. Ralston goes to a police station to get himself jailed because he doesn't want to kill himself, but has a powerful urge to commit suicide. When the officer on duty tells him he can't be thrown in jail without committing a crime, he quickly racks up three charges; resisting an officer, assault and battery, and malicious mischief.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4d92da97	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_4d92da97	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_4d92da97
Breeds There a Man...? / int_545d100b	type	Intelligence Equals Isolation
Breeds There a Man...? / int_545d100b	comment	Intelligence Equals Isolation: Dr. Ralston finds himself so much smarter than everyone around him that he has trouble tolerating their inability to grasp "simple" concepts. His psychiatrist describes this isolation to the project manager as analogous to a force field.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_545d100b	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_545d100b	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_545d100b
Breeds There a Man...? / int_61ff365d	type	Deflector Shields
Breeds There a Man...? / int_61ff365d	comment	Ross, an engineer working on secret atomic research, walked into the path of an oncoming car after he finished constructing a prototype force field. This is entirely unexpected and had no prior symptoms of suicide. This causes some of the government agents to wonder if Ralston might be correct about the aliens.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_61ff365d	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_61ff365d	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_61ff365d
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d089995	type	The Shrink
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d089995	comment	The Shrink: Dr. Gottfried Blaustein, a psychiatrist, is hired by the Atomic Energy Commission to help one of their top scientists overcome their suicidal tendencies.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d089995	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d089995	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d089995
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d332aea	type	Driven to Suicide
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d332aea	comment	Driven to Suicide: Dr. Ralston believes that people try to commit suicide because of aliens. He argues that it's an automatic thing, where "strains" of humanity are controlled by unknown effects from the alien experiments. Other people don't believe him, and dismiss evidence (such as the high-than-average suicide rate among atomic scientists) as being due to the stress of keeping their work secret. Ross, an engineer working on secret atomic research, walked into the path of an oncoming car after he finished constructing a prototype force field. This is entirely unexpected and had no prior symptoms of suicide. This causes some of the government agents to wonder if Ralston might be correct about the aliens.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d332aea	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d332aea	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_6d332aea
Breeds There a Man...? / int_737a65f4	type	The Watson
Breeds There a Man...? / int_737a65f4	comment	The Watson: Because most of the characters are scientists specializing in one field or another, they trade the role of "audience asking for explanations" around so that no one character is asking all of the questions.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_737a65f4	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_737a65f4	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_737a65f4
Breeds There a Man...? / int_89fab6b	type	Desires Prison Life
Breeds There a Man...? / int_89fab6b	comment	Desires Prison Life: Dr. Ralston deliberately gets himself jailed in the hope that a prison environment will prevent him from acting on his suicidal urges.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_89fab6b	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_89fab6b	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_89fab6b
Breeds There a Man...? / int_9ebca7d9	type	Mr. Smith
Breeds There a Man...? / int_9ebca7d9	comment	Mr. Smith: When Dr. Ralston gets himself thrown in jail, he gives "John Smith" as his name.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_9ebca7d9	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_9ebca7d9	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_9ebca7d9
Breeds There a Man...? / int_bdbc35e7	type	Blade Enthusiast
Breeds There a Man...? / int_bdbc35e7	comment	Blade Enthusiast: Inspector Darrity always carries a switchblade. He uses it to clean underneath his fingernails and to have something to play with in his hands.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_bdbc35e7	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_bdbc35e7	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_bdbc35e7
Breeds There a Man...? / int_c3223008	type	Unwitting Test Subject
Breeds There a Man...? / int_c3223008	comment	Unwitting Test Subject: Dr. Ralson believes that aliens are conducting experiments with civilizations all over the universe, and Earth's is close to a point where measures are being taken to shut it down.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_c3223008	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_c3223008	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_c3223008
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e003c829	type	History Repeats
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e003c829	comment	History Repeats: One of the symptoms that Dr. Ralston identifies as due to malign alien influence is the way that historic empires would be destroyed by war/disease during the height of their power. He is convinced that the aliens observed that a group showed too much vitality and ability, and therefore caused a war to destroy the possibility of their further development. He is convinced the Cold War is their plan to end the current "high-culture" experiment.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e003c829	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e003c829	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_e003c829
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e0aed924	type	No Antagonist
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e0aed924	comment	No Antagonist: The conflict is all internal; Dr. Ralson is attempting suicide yet doesn't actually want to die. Although he claims these suicidal tendencies come from aliens, there isn't any strong evidence for his claim. The main conflict in the book comes from the other characters trying to help him recover so that he can complete his work on force fields.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e0aed924	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e0aed924	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_e0aed924
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e567510d	type	Determinator
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e567510d	comment	Determinator: A scientist keeps trying to invent an energy shield to defend cities from nuclear missiles. He does this despite an increasingly strong urge not just to end the research, but to kill himself. It turns out the Cold War is an experiment by Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, who seek to prevent humans from breaking the parameters. Through extraordinary willpower, the scientist succeeds. Then, with great relief, he kills himself with a detective's knife.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e567510d	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e567510d	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_e567510d
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e59a8584	type	Instant Illness
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e59a8584	comment	Instant Illness: For the most part, the government agents don't believe in the mysterious aliens that Dr. Ralston blames for his suicidal tendencies. The most convincing argument in their existence is the sudden suicide of the engineer who worked on the prototype Deflector Shields. They had never even heard of Dr. Ralston, much less his ravings about aliens and penicillin, but after completing their work on the prototype, they walked into the path of an oncoming car for a quick death.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e59a8584	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_e59a8584	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_e59a8584
Breeds There a Man...? / int_f7b32015	type	Sufficiently Advanced Alien
Breeds There a Man...? / int_f7b32015	comment	Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Humanity is an alien experiment which must occasionally be reset by large-scale destruction. The Cold War is the prelude to another reset, but if humanity can develop an energy shield to protect cities against nuclear bombs, they may be able to escape alien control.
Breeds There a Man...? / int_f7b32015	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_f7b32015	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_f7b32015
Breeds There a Man...? / int_name	type	ItemName
Breeds There a Man...? / int_name	comment
Breeds There a Man...? / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Breeds There a Man...? / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Breeds There a Man...? / int_name
Breeds There a Man...? / int_name	itemName	Breeds There a Man...?

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	American Literature (# to D) / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Deflector Shields / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Mr. Smith / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Novelette / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Nuclear Nullifier / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	People Zoo / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Sufficiently Advanced Alien / int_ac061551
Breeds There a Man...?	hasFeature	Unwitting Test Subject / int_ac061551

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