Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Superfluous Citizens

In my society, as in yours, each citizen finds his niche in one of four power groups: the military, the religious orders, the working class, or the merchants and businessmen.

As each one works his way into his class niche, he discovers that there is a definite pecking order within his class. Captains give way to colonels, colonels must submit to generals. For those who fall into the working class, power can be determined by production, but is more often a function of the loyalty of others within the class. For the businessmen, money is the beginning and end of all; wealth is the undisputed king.

Even in the religious orders you will find that there is a clear power structure, though the religious people deny any hunger for power and prestige within their ranks. They can deny it all they want, but too few of them live up to the ideals they claim to live by.

And then, in your society, as in mine, there are the superfluous citizens. Those who don't seem to fit anywhere. We are not part of the military, the church, the working class, or the business world. We are misfits shunned by all, and treated as outcasts. Our lives seem meaningless, pointless, and no one seems to care.

In my society, we are called Jokers, and we are consistently removed from the deck.

What are we called in your society? And what do you do with us?

More writing by this author

Blogs on This Site