Follow TV Tropes

Following

History Literature / TheTwentyOneBalloons

Go To

OR

Added: 436

Changed: 11

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* CoolAirship: Sherman's balloon-house is described in exquisite detail: perfectly engineered to be operated by one person for an indefinite amount of time, stocked with lightweight furniture and trimmed with balsa wood. Even his mattress is made of balloon silk and filled with helium, so that it floats up to the ceiling for daytime storage.

to:

* CoolAirship: Sherman's balloon-house is described in exquisite detail: perfectly engineered to be operated by one person for an indefinite amount of time, stocked with lightweight furniture and trimmed with balsa wood.wood and bamboo. Even his mattress is made of balloon silk and filled with helium, so that it floats up to the ceiling for daytime storage.


Added DiffLines:

* CoolOldGuy: Professor Sherman starts his adventuring life at age 66, having spent 40 years as a schoolteacher. He designs the aforementioned CoolAirship, survives two catastrophic crashes [[spoiler:and one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in history]], and stubbornly refuses to tell his story to anyone but the members of his adventurer's club, even when the request comes from no less than the President of the United States.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/21balloonscover.jpeg]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* WorthlessYellowRocks: The diamonds are completely worthless on Krakatoa, where everyone is equally wealthy and there is nothing to buy--and taking the diamonds ''off'' the island would render them just as worthless everywhere else.

to:

* WorthlessYellowRocks: The diamonds are completely worthless on Krakatoa, where everyone is equally wealthy and there is nothing to buy--and taking the diamonds ''off'' the island would render them just as worthless everywhere else.else.
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


Set in 1883, it concerns a schoolteacher/adventurer, William Waterman Sherman, who decides to get away from it all by building a hot-air balloon capable of supporting a small house and setting off on a leisurely round-the-world vacation. Less than a week into his journey, the balloon is forced to crash-land on the island of Krakatoa, where Sherman discovers that a group of eccentric billionaires have created their own tiny society based around food and the shared wealth of a vast diamond mine hidden at the base of the volcano. Sherman becomes a permanent guest of the island, sharing both their secret and a portion of the diamond mines. Unfortunately, he has arrived barely a week before [[ChekhovsVolcano Krakatoa famously blows its top.]]

to:

Set in 1883, it concerns a schoolteacher/adventurer, William Waterman Sherman, who decides to get away from it all by building a hot-air balloon capable of supporting a small house and setting off on a leisurely round-the-world vacation. Less than a week into his journey, the balloon is forced to crash-land on the island of Krakatoa, where Sherman discovers that a group of eccentric billionaires have created their own tiny society based around food gourmet cuisine and the shared wealth of a vast diamond mine hidden at the base of the volcano. Sherman becomes a permanent guest of the island, sharing both their secret and a portion of the diamond mines. Unfortunately, he has arrived barely a week before [[ChekhovsVolcano Krakatoa famously blows its top.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* GentlemanAdventurer: Sherman primarily, but many of the Krakatoans have a streak of it in them.

to:

* GentlemanAdventurer: Sherman primarily, is a well-bred, well-read former schoolteacher who wants to see the world, but many in relative style and comfort. Many of the Krakatoans have a streak of it Gentleman Adventurer in them.them as well.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* MistakenForAfterlife: After he awakens from his crash to find a man standing over him, Professor Sherman thinks he's in heaven. The man informs him that he's on Krakatoa.

to:

* MistakenForAfterlife: After he awakens from his crash to find a white-clad man standing over him, Professor Sherman thinks he's in heaven. The man informs him that he's on Krakatoa.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None





%%** Equally cool but not quite as much fun is [[spoiler: the Krakatoan escape platform]].

to:

%%** ** Equally cool but not quite as much fun is [[spoiler: the Krakatoan escape platform]].



%%* GentlemanAdventurer: Sherman primarily, but many of the Krakatoans have a streak of it in them.

to:

%%* * GentlemanAdventurer: Sherman primarily, but many of the Krakatoans have a streak of it in them.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
moving page from "Twenty One Balloons" (missing first word)

Added DiffLines:

''The Twenty-One Balloons'' (sometimes stylized as ''The 21 Balloons'') is a 1947 children's comedy-adventure novel by William Pene Du Bois.

Set in 1883, it concerns a schoolteacher/adventurer, William Waterman Sherman, who decides to get away from it all by building a hot-air balloon capable of supporting a small house and setting off on a leisurely round-the-world vacation. Less than a week into his journey, the balloon is forced to crash-land on the island of Krakatoa, where Sherman discovers that a group of eccentric billionaires have created their own tiny society based around food and the shared wealth of a vast diamond mine hidden at the base of the volcano. Sherman becomes a permanent guest of the island, sharing both their secret and a portion of the diamond mines. Unfortunately, he has arrived barely a week before [[ChekhovsVolcano Krakatoa famously blows its top.]]

If the plot sounds familiar, it's because Creator/FScottFitzgerald published "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," which is essentially a much DarkerAndEdgier version of the same story, in 1922. Du Bois was informed of the similarity shortly before publication and swore up and down that it was sheer coincidence (even though he found it amusing that both he and Fitzgerald had the same dream of using their infinite wealth to be slid directly from bed into a hot bath). So far as anyone can tell, the resemblance really ''is'' just coincidence, and the lighthearted tone of ''The Twenty-One Balloons,'' as well as its target audience, is far removed from Fitzgerald's black-comedy adult parable about greed.


-----
!!''The Twenty-One Balloons'' contains examples of
* AllBalloonsHaveHelium: Subverted. The mechanics and practicality of the various balloon inventions in the book are very accurately and carefully described. Some of them might even work in the real world!
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming: All the Krakatoans have given up their real names and are known only by initials: father Mr. A, mother Mrs. A, children A-1 and A-2, all the way down to T.
* {{Balloonacy}}: Happens to a small child during Sherman's homecoming celebration.
* CoolAirship: Sherman's balloon-house is described in exquisite detail: perfectly engineered to be operated by one person for an indefinite amount of time, stocked with lightweight furniture and trimmed with balsa wood. Even his mattress is made of balloon silk and filled with helium, so that it floats up to the ceiling for daytime storage.
%%** Equally cool but not quite as much fun is [[spoiler: the Krakatoan escape platform]].
* EccentricMillionaire: The inhabitants of Krakatoa have chosen to exist apart from the rest of society, under a "restaurant government" complete with its own twenty-day calendar, with no responsibilities other than creating exotic and incredible luxuries for their own consumption.
* GildedCage:
** Sherman is told on arrival that he is now a permanent guests of Krakatoa. Subverted in that, once he sees the diamond mines, he is quickly overwhelmed with the same fever as the other Krakatoans and no longer ''wants'' to leave.
** Inverted: the lure of the diamonds also keeps the Krakatoans themselves from leaving, in spite of the fact that they are now trapped on an isolated, inhospitable island where all their wealth is worthless.
%%* GentlemanAdventurer: Sherman primarily, but many of the Krakatoans have a streak of it in them.
* {{Greed}}: Of a benign sort. The Krakatoans are essentially trapped by their own greed, unable to leave the island without the thought of its vast wealth haunting them, but they're more than ready to share their wealth with Sherman.
* HereWeGoAgain: At the end of his story, Sherman plans to rebuild his balloon and continue his original adventure.
* MistakenForAfterlife: After he awakens from his crash to find a man standing over him, Professor Sherman thinks he's in heaven. The man informs him that he's on Krakatoa.
* TheMunchausen: Subverted. It seems as if Sherman will become a disbelieved ex-adventurer, but at the very end, just as his audience begins to express doubt, [[spoiler:Professor Sherman produces the diamonds.]]
* NuclearFamily: All the Krakatoan families were selected to fit into this trope, in order to insure genetic diversity. All families have a mother, a father, and a boy and a girl within a particular age range.
* OneLetterName: The Krakatoans all take alphabetical names from A to T. Sherman is discouraged from doing the same, as being called "U" would lead to pronoun confusion.
* SteamPunk: Many of the island's inventions run on steam.
* SteampunkGadgeteers: The entire M family. They're engineers who have outfitted their luxurious home with tremendously fun cutting-edge technology, all of which runs on steam.
* ThreateningShark: A school of sharks appears under the professor as his balloon is on the verge of crashing into the sea.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Krakatoa is a real volcanic island that did explosively erupt in 1883, briefly encircling the entire planet with its debris.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: The diamonds are completely worthless on Krakatoa, where everyone is equally wealthy and there is nothing to buy--and taking the diamonds ''off'' the island would render them just as worthless everywhere else.

Top