"Passengers" Rating: 3 Planets
by Robert Silverberg  
pub. 1968 in Orbit #4
Nebula for Best Short Story  
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Preview
Alien wraiths called Passengers randomly take over the bodies of humans for several days at a time. One such human remembers the sexual encounter he had with an inhabited woman and then meets her and attempts to have a real relationship.

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Background Data

The story illustrates a principle theme in Silverberg's fiction. Thomas Clareson states that this theme "grew out of the existentialist view of human isolation and anguish in an indifferent universe where vast, incomprehensible forces act in a meaningless, random manner." To illustrate this theme Silverberg describes acts of "psychic cannibalism" (6)
Joseph Francavilla writes that "metaphorically, the aliens represent an unknowable, ambiguous, and capricious fate" (66)

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Navigation Guide
Atom BulletWhat motivates the Passengers?
Atom BulletHow have humans adapted to the activity of Passengers in their midst?
Atom BulletWhy does Charles contemplate the possibility that Descartes' dictum Cogito ergo sum (I think; therefore, I am) is no longer valid?
Atom BulletWhy does Charles remember his Passenger-induced encounter with Helen?
Atom BulletWhy does Charles want to pursue a real relationship with Helen?
Atom BulletWhy does Helen react as she does to Charles' revelation that they had coupled while controlled by Passengers?
Atom BulletWhy does Helen change her mind about Charles' overtures?
Atom BulletWhat is the significance of what the next Passenger does with Charles?

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Further Exploration

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© 2002 Agatha Taormina
Last Revised: January 5, 2005