John Christopher’s ‘The Guardians’

The Guardians, a YA scifi novel by John Christopher, was published in 1970 and set in the year 2052. In this 2052, England is sharply divided between the Conurbs and the County. The Conurbs are packed with people, and being part of the group is key to Courb identity. They go together to violent sports games, to Carnivals and to packed beaches, and sure, sometimes a riot breaks out, especially over their bloodsportsball teams. It’s hard not to think of the proles in 1984 or the Gammas in Brave New World, in the crowds of Conurb residents seeking group entertainment together.

Outside the barbed-wire, electric-fence separators, there’s the County, which is almost a parody of British aristocracy. The County residents perform all the social obligations of titled aristocracy, their estates are modeled on the feudal system, but this all exists without tenants or serfs or any of the typical lord’s responsibilities. They live on huge estates and travel by carriage when they visit friends or attend lawn games on other estates. There are a few rare doctors and other specialized professions who commute by helicopter from County to Conurbs when needed, but in general, the two worlds are completely separated. This separated society  clearly developed from our own society (well, from Christopher’s 1970s Britain), but I think it works here because the focus is on the adventure story and coming-of-age story, not on long worldbuilding explanation.

The County looks down on the Conurb just as much as the Conurb looks down on County.  This reminded me of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel, Brave New World, when the Alphas, Betas, etc. were each told how they were the best group, how they had all the advantages and none of the disadvantages the others had. Here, the Conurb city-dwellers know they’re having more fun than the stuffy, backward County residents. In the County, they know they’re more educated and cultured, and even the County servant class prefers this to the crowded, dirty Conurbs. Skilled and loyal Gifford staff consider it an honor to work for the family.

The Guardians is slightly dated, but can still resonate with modern readers, because the themes of authority, surveillance, and individual independence are still relevant. The YA themes of friendship, competition and coming-of-age remain constant too.

Teenage Rob Randall has lost his father and is suffering bullying, loneliness and cruel discipline at a state boarding school. This resembles the beginning of Christopher’s 1977 novel, Empty World, where teenage Neil finds himself at a new village school with dunces and bullies after his parents’ death. There’s a similar vibe of our protag who’s forced to be around other people, when he’s not really connected to others, and just wants to be left alone. Rob would literally like to just be left alone to read his book, but school discipline doesn’t permit owning books and bullying upperclassmen won’t leave him alone. Harsh British boarding-schools aren’t rare in fiction, but this one is particularly harsh without a promise of summer hols or future uni and career success.

Rob makes an escape, where he hopes to hide out in the rural areas of the County. It’s not exactly a detailed or long-term plan, a reminder that this is a boys’ YA adventure novel. He makes it out of school, across the country, across the border and into the County, where he’s tired and hungry when he’s discovered by Mike Gifford, a County boy about Rob’s age. Mike’s bored and interested in hearing about the County.

Mike’s mother notices food disappearing and her son riding out, and remembers a hidden location from childhood games. Mrs. Gifford is possibly the most interesting character in the story, in a society where everyone is focused on their hobbies and their training, she really knows everything that happens around her. But she’s not the enemy here, she helps concoct a backstory as the child of a distant cousin returning to England for school, and helps Rob learn and copy County behavior. Rob spends his days eating great meals, training in posh sports, and practicing etiquette and skills to fit in at school. At first, Rob is just pleased not to be harassed and bullied every day, but soon he adjusts to his new life, he gains insights into the County’s society and lifestyle.

Maybe because of his friendship with Rob, maybe just due to the Gifford family tendencies, Mike becomes curious about the Conurbs and whether his County life really is the best way to live. It’s a believable uprising,  partly because it comes from curious and rebellious young people, partly because there’s no Chosen One. The Guardians has felt like a YA adventure novel until this point, but the mood shifts here. There’s no feeling that the young people are really going to turn the Conurb and County into one utopian mix. Instead, it feels legitimately young and maybe a little doomed. We don’t see this need to rebel and reinvent society from Mike’s perspective, we see it from Rob’s, and Rob’s mostly just happy to eat good meals and not be bullied.

With Mike and his friends’ rebellion,  Rob faces conflicting loyalties. It’s not an adventure where he needs to be physically brave in his escape or mentally sharp in his impersonation of County manners. Emotions and interior lives aren’t  Christopher’s real strength as a writer, so it’s more interesting than moving. Young Rob doesn’t want to get involved in the rebellion, or rat out his friends, or reject the help he’s received from the Giffords, he doesn’t want to help the authorities find the rebels, or be sent back to the Conurbs. He has to really think about Mike, the Giffords, the life has has now, the life he left, and what he wants his future to be. It’s an intriguing scifi twist on the classic coming-of-age discovery.

I’ve complained before about Retro Scifi-Itis, and I almost felt like Christopher was playing with that expectation here with Mrs Gifford.  A wealthy housewife is an easy character to mock, moms in YA novels are usually obstacles to the plot, and almost anyone female is demoted in science fiction. But Mrs Gifford, with her eye on everything in the house, is the power behind the scenes, and when she reveals her loyalties, it powerful and surprising. Her deliberate acceptance of Rob as a new Gifford relative, her knowledge of Mike’s underground activities, her understanding of the people and systems around her are all hidden under upscale etiquette and domestic and social tasks, making this such an unusual character. (And that goes double for a retro scifi character)  She’s not entirely sympathetic — and readers won’t want to be the keeper of the pantry and the family secrets — but this character adds so much to the story.

The Guardians worked well for me because it has the readability of a YA SF/F story, without a Chosen One. Our protag, Rob, isn’t special or gifted or particularly, he’s a guy who found his current life so untenable that he escaped, and then he continues to cope with what he discovers. John Christopher’s worldbuilding, with broad strokes and wild futures connected to our own world, is always fascinating and page-turning.