No More Tears

Fifty years ago, to the month, I first read the Philip K Dick novel “Flow My Tears the Policeman said.” In fact I stood up and read a couple of pages at our morning School Assembly. It was my comment about the potential scariness of a Police-State.

Back then, in our final year we were expected to take turns in reading from something we felt was interesting and thought-provoking during this daily ritual. When my turn came, I read from the book.

The strange thing is I’ve just re-read the story for the first time since then and can’t find the section I read that day. It’s pretty clear in my mind what the section involved and why I chose it. But it’s not there now and I have the same copy of the book.

Adding to my befuddlement I also discovered that the expected redemption of the leading character, after all he goes through, never happens. Jason Tavener doesn’t change his spoiled, very unpleasant view of his fellow humans once his world is back to normal. I hadn’t remembered it this way. I don’t remember the Epilog either.

Nor did I remember the many hinted-at sexual perversions, the homosexuality, the frequent scenes where the “Me Too” movement would rightly be up in arms. Philip K Dick was not in any way condoning some of these activities but he was pointing out what went on. And for the mid 1970’s this must have been a shocking read for many.

In our modern world with its ever-expanding acronyms for the inclusion of diverse sections of society there’s also an additional one in this tale, one with a capital “I”.

Being very young when I read this story all these threads would have been very memorable and probably upsetting, ruining the story for me. I enjoyed my science-fiction greatly. Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Harry Harrison, Ray Bradbury etc., but looking back now, the swearing and the general unpleasantness doled-out in this story would not have been to my taste. And I would surely have remembered that, if nothing else.

And at the end I did remember the explanation we are given for all the strange events in the story. It is ingenious and fits well.

Back in June 1974, I certainly read aloud a different part of the story in that assembly, one that isn’t there now, fifty years later. It’s easy to dismiss my memories as being half a century old now and surely in error, but when you are the one who read the missing section out loud in front of dozens of people, not quite so easy to dismiss!