Citizen of the Galaxy Study Guide & Notes

Citizen of the Galaxy Plot Summary

Preview of Citizen of the Galaxy Summary:

As the story opens, a starved, scared young boy is being sold on an auction block on a faraway planet. He is purchased by an old, one-eyed, one-legged man named Baslim. He appears to be a simple beggar, but is later revealed to be an anti-slavery agent (with a long history of heroism) who is working undercover.

Baslim raises the boy, Thorby, as his own son, nurturing and educating him. Through Baslim, Thorby receives an exceptional education atypical of the slave of a lowly beggar on an isolated planet. Baslim, aware that this education will not help him on a world where social mobility is very limited, begins arranging for Thorby's future, of which the boy is only partially aware.

When his espionage activities are eventually discovered by the harsh, autocratic government of the planet Sargon, Baslim winds up dead. Thorby, who knows very...
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