History Literature / TheCavesOfSteel

* {{Zeerust}}: At one point, Elijah reminisces about anti-Spacer riots and recalls a protest song based on an old folk tune with the nonsense lyrics "Hinky-dinky-parley-voo". The song, Mademoiselle from Armentieres, was from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and has faded from cultural consciousness to such a degree that it is was all but forgotten within half a century of this novel's publication. Not to mention that, by the standards even of the late twentieth century, let alone three thousand years in the future, when this story is set, the song is hopelessly quaint.

* TheyFightCrime: One's a police detective with a terror of open spaces, and the other's a prototype colonist android. And they fight crime.

* AuthorAppeal: The crowded underground cities of Earth would be hellish to a claustrophobe, but Asimov was a claustro''phile''. He stated that it had never occurred to him that other people might find the closed-in cities undesirable. Spending their lives in these Cities has made this condition much more common in the population, and fear of wide open spaces has become the societal norm on Earth.

* IronicName: Elijah and Jezebel are Biblical figures that were vicious enemies, whereas the Elijah and Jezebel (Jessie) of this story are a HappilyMarried couple.

This story was adapted for a VCR game by [[Creator/EastmanKodak Kodak]] in 1988 (with elements of ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'' added in and a character sharing a name -- only the name -- with one from ''Literature/RobotsAndEmpire''). You can watch the movie itself on Website/YouTube starting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By53fLlxrjE here]] (the cards required for the game can be found [[https://archive.org/details/20081021195902robotsMed here]]), as well as a review/riff by [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGEuFaGkG1A here.]]

* SocietyMarchesOn: The book does a pretty good job of portraying future Earth's culture realistically, but there are some hints that give away its age. Most obvious is Elijah's son, whose speech is so stereotypical of TheFifties that it may sound closer to parody to modern readers.

* NotSoDifferent: Elijah mentions that although Jezebel was ruthless in her fight against her rival religion, the biblical Elijah was too, and both had a lot of people killed.

This story was adapted for a VCR game by [[Creator/EastmanKodak Kodak]] in 1988 (with elements of ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'' added in and a character sharing a name - only the name - with one from ''Literature/RobotsAndEmpire''). You can watch the movie itself on Website/YouTube starting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By53fLlxrjE here]] (the cards required for the game can be found [[https://archive.org/details/20081021195902robotsMed here]]), as well as a review/riff by [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGEuFaGkG1A here.]]

* MurderByMistake: Baley assumes Dr. Sarton's death was an accident when the Commissioner first talks about a "death" happening in spacetown. [[spoiler: In fact Dr. Sarton's death was accidental - he was killed by a shot intended for R. Daneel (who was built to resemble his creator).]]

* WeAreAsMayflies: Played with. [[spoiler: The Spacers who want to renew mankind's expansion see the short lives of Earthmen as ideal for the task - the young are more ambitious and willing to step outside social convention, and with "only" fifty years of future lifespan at risk, are more tolerant of danger than those who can confidently expect to pass three hundred years of age.]]

* MegaCity: Where the population of Earth lives. On average, 11.2 million in each city. The governments of three large cities (New York, Philadelphia and Washington) are considering merging into one single ''Mega'' Mega City, but the logistics of maintaining and governing such a large conglomerate have so far prevented any action on the plan.

* LightningLash: The police are equipped with electric whips as a less-than-lethal way of dealing with criminals.

* ElvesVersusDwarves: While both are human beings, the Spacers and Earthmen share many stereotypes of elves and dwarves, respectively. The Spacers are [[OurElvesAreBetter proud, elegant, long-lived people with superior technology]] while the Earthmen are [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame conservative cave-dwellers]]. The main conflict of the story is between these two factions.

* AtLeastIAdmitIt: Of the "At least ''you'' admit it" variety. Dr. Fastolfe likes Elijah because he is direct and upfront about his dislike of the Spacers, while politicians like Enderby also dislike the Spaces but always ''handle'' them and disguise their resentment with politeness.

* TerrifiedOfGerms: The Spacers are paranoid about being infected with human microbes. On their utopian planets they have no disease and their immune systems have decayed as a result.

* RuleOfThrees: [[spoiler:Three times Elijah thinks he's solved the crime, but he's only right the third time. 1) There was no murder, only a Spacer conspiracy -- the Spacers destroyed a robot lookalike and Daneel is actually Dr. Sarton pretending to be a robot. 2) Daneel isn't bound by the Three Laws and committed the murder. 3) The murderer meant to destroy Daneel, but killed Dr. Sarton by mistake.]]

* DomedHometown: All the cities of Earth (and what is, in our time, known as the "greater metropolitan area" thereof) are enclosed under massive domes.

* EatingMachine: Daneel, thanks to a compartment hidden within his stomach, all to better impersonate a human. He does not derive any actual nutrition from the food, and needs to regularly empty his stomach sack to prevent the food from spoiling and emitting an unpleasant odor. Daneel promises that the food is still edible when Lije misses a meal, but [[{{Squick}} Baley refuses the offer]].

* MaleRestroomEtiquette: There is a strict taboo that no one speaks to each other in the Men's Personals, nor look at them or acknowledge each other in any way. Elijah has to make a deliberate effort to force himself to speak while still in the antechamber, and he recalls a time as a child when he was beaten by his uncle after he had stubbed his toe and accidentally cursed aloud. Women's Personals are quite the opposite though, and are seen as a social meet-up place.