The Recruit by Bryce Walton
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"The Recruit" by Bryce Walton is a science fiction short story written in the early 1960s. The narrative follows Wayne Seton, a 16-year-old boy grappling with feelings of impatience and a yearning for adventure as he prepares for his draft call, which symbolizes a rite of passage into adulthood. The story delves into themes of youth, aggression, and societal expectations. Wayne's adventure begins when he receives his draft call, which he interprets
as his ticket to manhood and freedom from the mundane life with his parents. However, as he ventures into the darker, more dangerous side of the city, seeking excitement and a thrill, he finds himself confronting his own impulses and moral dilemmas. He is assigned to eliminate two individuals deemed “undesirables” by the state—one a psychopathic killer and the other a victim of circumstance, a young woman with a tragic past. In the climactic moment, Wayne's instinct for violence is challenged when he cannot bring himself to kill the girl, leading to an internal conflict about humanity and morality. The story concludes with Wayne being returned to a controlled environment for treatment, highlighting the struggles between societal conditioning and individual choices. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Schelling, George, 1938- |
| Title | The Recruit |
| Series Title | Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, July 1962 |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 86.2 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Psychological fiction |
| Subject | Executions and executioners -- Fiction |
| Subject | Teenage boys -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 61204 |
| Release Date | Jan 19, 2020 |
| Last Update | Oct 17, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 259 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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