/lit/ - Literature

>>19554780
Don't worry about translations. Once you start studying the Dao, you'll find the way

>>18604182
>>18604201
It's not even that, it's how the second half got real weird about sex and ideals and morals when the first half focused so heavily on how those things are by no means universal. Second half Smith barely resembles first half and there's a huge disconnect between the two.
Here's how I would have written the second half
>after the conference
>Jubal explains to Smith the concept of housing and earning a living
>Martians don't do this, they go wherever.
>Smith wants to try this.
>Buys a house
>Tries doing 'magic' and stuff to give back to society (as he groks what a job is), but gets bored/confused as to why humans can't do it themselves
>starts teaching people the Martian language
>no large plan, just wants to help people get better
>following grows
>First half characters join him in his ever-increasing compound
>Gets assassinated near the end
>almost no one in the compound cares because they're advanced enough to not recognize death
>They all scatter and the best students form their own schools which continue to grow
Years later
>Jubal and Gillian visit one
>Leaders recognize Smith as a founder, but not the end-all-be-all
>explain how he never really understood human love, and that they've largely surpassed him, just like modern scientist build on the works of their predecessors
>The best can do things Smith would never have dreamed of while he walked among them, but loves seeing when he's discorporated
>And this is why the Martians won't be able to defeat them

>>17215784
Knowing literature? Wasting away from a disease while writing.
Knowing /lit/? Alone.