The Bee-Hummingbird War was brutal...
The Glass Bees (German title: Gläserne Bienen) is a science fiction novel written by Ernst Jünger. It concerns the efforts of a veteran named Richard to find a job in a world where he feels he is increasingly becoming obsolete. The title refers to robotic bees manufactured to replace real ones by one of the companies Richard attempts to get a job at.Tropes used in this novel:
- Abusive Parents: Richard's father beat him when he was a boy.
- Ambition Is Evil: Richard's colleague Fillmor is an extremely ambitious man, but lacks imagination; he is driven solely by a need to succeed in life no matter what the cost. To say nothing of Giacomo Zapparoni, a ruthless businessman who has people killed. Ultimately subverted in that Zapparoni only makes people think he has former employees murdered, in order to prevent defecting engineers from selling secrets to rivals.
- Appeal to Tradition: This seems to be Richard's main reason to opposing the use of tanks instead of horses during the war; he is concerned that that the use of mechanized war machines will erase the proud tradition of the cavalry regiments.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Giacomo Zapparoni. Or so it seems. Whenever one of his engineers quits, he has a penchant for hiring people to, um, "take care" of them to protect his company's intellectual property. At the end, it's revealed that the severed ears Richard found in the pond are actually from robots, and Zapparoni never actually had anyone killed.
- Kids Are Cruel: When Richard was a kid, his friends beat up another boy. When Richard attempted to intervene, they beat him up too. Then the friends of the boy he tried to help beat him up too, because they think Richard was involved.
- New Technology Is Evil: Richard sees the highly advanced technology being introduced as being "incompatible with human happiness." He felt this way during the war, as well, disliking the manner in which mechanized war machines replaced mounted cavalrymen. Nevertheless, he does eventually find himself marveling at the efficiency of the titular glass bees.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Richard has some elements of this, a former cavalry officer and tank inspector trying to adjust to civilian life after a war.
- Technophobia: Richard doesn't like modern technology much, thanks primarily to his experiences in the war. He used to be a cavalry officer, but when tanks replaced horses, he was forced into becoming an inspector for the tanks to ensure they ran smoothly.
