The Symbolism of Individuality Versus Society in Ellison’s “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Ticktockman”

Cultural commentary and criticism is a longstanding trope of science fiction, particularly the stories that are set in a dystopia—a society that is failing or exploitative of its citizens, often depicted by Western writers as a society under totalitarian rule in which personal liberties and issues of individual identity are repressed or outlawed. Often the protagonists in dystopian fiction are themselves individuals, thinkers or revolutionaries who have a sense of purpose, moral rightness, and separation from society. In contrast are the masses, often depicted as a gray herd complicit in their own repression who are either unaware of their condition or beaten into submission by an oppressive and powerful government or by a deteriorated civilization in which basic necessities are difficult to procure. Individuals in these fictional worlds become symbols of freedom, nonconformity, and uniqueness, while the masses become symbols of hegemony, repression, and a reflection of that world’s social order. Harlan Ellison’s “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” uses the symbols of the Harlequin and the masses to advance the theme of the individual versus society.

The themes in the story of individuality versus society are first established in the quote from Henry David Toreau’s “Civil Disobedience” that prefaces the opening of the story. Thoreau calls society a “mass of men” who are “machines” and are in opposition to “heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense.” Ellison uses these ideas in his art of storytelling, casting the Ticktockman as the leader of the machine of bodies that make up society and the Harlequin who represents one of the heroes and reformers in the story. Literary critic Michael White explains this notion further. “‘Repent, Harlequin!,’ complete with its citation from Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience,’ suggests that [most people are] necessarily relegated to the status of machines... In this maxim, martyrs, masses and the revolutionary process of history are all grist for the indefatigable mills of the State” (White). The large theme that Ellison is developing in the story is about the decisions that people make to conform or not conform and the coercive powers of the state to make coercion natural and preferable to the discomfort of nonconformity. Critic Alan Wolfheil concurs, noting that stories such as “Repent, Harlequin!” give “insights… into the structure of the social sciences and history applied to the extrapolated of these disciplines in the near and distant future as seen by science fiction authors” (301). In other words, the theme of individual through society can be studied and applied to social conditions today in a unique way because of the novelty and uniqueness that the fictional society has, allowing it to be analyzed thoughtfully.

Ellison’s story world is set in a society that worships time and productivity to the extent that tardiness is punishable by instantaneous death, and the person in charge of scheduling and time is revered as a spiritual leader or monarch. Ellison relates the conditions and behaviors that led to the world in its present state, marking periods of time with life events, such as applying for college, getting a job, and attending school, all of it a pattern and cycle that Ellison explains with, “And so it goes… tick tock tick tock… and one day we no longer let time serve us, we serve time and we are slaves of the schedule… bound into a life predicated on restrictions because the system will not function if we don’t keep the schedule tight” (5). The “we” in the story is society, and Ellison has established the symbol of society as being the machinery that keeps time flowing, like a clock. In this world, the hegemony of the society is based around punctuality and service to a master schedule that has happened through degrees, self-enforced until society reached a tipping point in which people became the “slaves” to a select ruling class. Like many other dystopian fictions such as those created by Orwell or Bradbury, Ellison creates a society that is ruled by a totalitarian government and the general population is technically free but enslaved to some ideological position or political rules that favor a few people over the multitude of society.

The Harlequin is an identity that the protagonist, Everett Marm, adopts as a way of disrupting the machinery of society and its adherence to a master schedule by asserting an on-threatening identity that connotes childhood and play. The harlequin is a cultural symbol of frivolity, mischief, and also mystery. The Harlequin’s frivolity and mischief is meant to awaken the people from the monotony of their existence, to rekindle a spark of play and surprise, which is the opposite of orderly conformity. For example, in the scene where the Harlequin showers a group of people with jellybeans, the property damage and cultural effect is minimal, but the real triumph in the cultural battle was within the hearts and minds of the people passing by. “[E]veryone was dumped this away and that away in a jackstraw tumble, and still laughing and popping little jelly bean eggs of childish color into their mouths. It was a holiday, and a jollity, an absolute insanity, a giggle” (Ellison 4). Ellison’s language playfully describes the scene, underscoring the play and mischief in the act as a benign but powerful form of non-comformity, an act that delayed the world by seven minutes, and “in a society where the single driving force was order and unity and promptness and clocklike precision and attention to the clock, reverence of the gods of the passage of time, it was a disaster of major importance” (4). Earle Bryant picks up on this scene and explains, “Accordingly, when Marm swoops down… and showers [the workers] with jellybeans, he is attempting to show them that life can and should be a joyous affair and not the government-mandated robotic existence they are leading. In this scene, as well as throughout the story, Ellison wants us to see Marm as a comic rebel-hero” (164).

As stated earlier, one of the themes of Western dystopia fiction is the theme that a loss of personal liberty is akin to dying. Oscar De Los Santos succinctly states how the Harlequin as a symbol supports that theme in the story: “The Harlequin… realizes that a society that relinquishes control of its existence to one entity or one small governing body—mechanical or otherwise—is in grave danger of becoming extinct” (8). The extinction that De Los Santos refers to is the extinction of the personality, as relinquishing control of one’s sense of self to the social machine is tantamount to a meaningless existence, and the Harlequin, who dresses in motley, makes himself a singular spectacle so as to disrupt the conformity. During his trial, Everett Marm clearly but flippantly states the position of the individual: “’Scare someone else. I’d rather be dead than live in a dumb world with a bogeyman like you’” (Ellison 9). Though his words are not lofty, Everett is bravely asserting his individuality in the face death as a rebuke of the system and the “bogeyman” that the Ticktockman and his regime represents.

The control that the Ticktockman has over people partially comes from advanced, futuristic technology. The Ticktockman has the power to kill someone remotely through manipulation of their cardioplates, an invented technology that is not explained and serves as a symbol of the Ticktockman’s authority. As Charles Sullivan notes, science storytelling often “presents machines, or aspects of machines, that we fear, and machines, or aspects thereof, that we desire.” Sullivan continues to explore the themes in Ellison’s stories that involve the type of machines that cause fear, and in this case the Ticktockman is an extension of his fearful technology, and the story “a hard-hitting piece of social criticism” that “attempt to depict the unpleasant consequences of present-day attitudes or trends” (Sullivan). Technology is a tool used to repress, and so it is fitting that the Harlequin shows no concern for the technology, goading the Ticktockman into using the cardioplate to kill him (Ellison 10).

The end of the story, like most dystopian fiction, ends with the protagonist having made some revolutionary change at the cost of his life. Because of the comic nature of the story, the revolution is that the Ticktockman, the symbol of the ideological beliefs of the state, is made three minutes late (Ellison 11). This event is tragically comic, as it points out how absurd the social order is and how unimportant adherence to time can be in comparison to the sanctity and dignity of life. Just as the Harlequin uses lighthearted pranks to disrupt the master schedule, the real importance of maintaining a schedule is ephemeral, and the system is rigid and draconian because it is easier to conform than to be inconvenienced by some of the messy outcomes of an unexpected event, such as being showered with millions of jellybeans. The Harlequin is a comic individual who is caught up in a comical society that, but for the oppression and cold brutality, would make the story almost lighthearted.

Harlan Ellison’s “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” is a story that expresses the theme of individuals versus society by using the symbols of the masses of people and the symbol of the Harlequin as an individual. Like Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” Ellison’s “Repent, Harlequin!” examines the consequences when people stop functioning as individuals and begin functioning as machines for the vested interests of the few. Ellison clearly sides with the individual, championing the idea that personality is vital in living a life of meaning and value, and that the best society is one that is not enslaved to consumption, productivity, or conformity but instead to the expression of individuality and play.

Works Cited

Bryant, Earle V. "Ellison's "REPENT HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN." Explicator, vol. 59, no. 3, 2001, p. 163.

De Los Santos, Oscar. “Clogging Up the (In)Human Works: Harlan Ellison's Apocalyptic Postmodern Visions.” Extrapolation, vol. 40, issue 1, n.d., p. 5

Ellison, Harlan. “‘REPENT, HARLEQUIN!’ SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN.” 1965. http://www.harlanellison.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=932

Sullivan, Charles. “Harlan Ellison and Robert A. Heinlein: The Paradigm Makers.” Clockwork Worlds: Mechanized Environments in SF. Ed. Richard Erlich and Thomas Dunn. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1983, pp. 97–103.

White, Michael. “Ellison’s Harlequin: Irrational Moral Action in Static Time.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 1977, pp. 161–165.

Wohlfeil, Alan. “Science Fiction Stories in the Social Studies.” The Clearing House, vol. 44, no 5, 1970, pp. 300–304,