The Worlds of If Flashcards
by Stanley Weinbaum — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Worlds of If
Why does Dixon Wells miss the Baikal rocket liner at the beginning of the story?
He stops to make a phone call and then encounters his old physics professor, Haskel van Manderpootz, delaying him past the five-minute window the airline held the ship.
What is the N. J. Wells Corporation, and what is Dixon's relationship to it?
It is a major corporation founded by Dixon's father, N. J. Wells. Dixon works for the firm and was being sent to Moscow to bid on the Ural Tunnel contract.
What happens to the Baikal after Dixon misses it?
The Baikal collides mid-flight with a British fruitship while flying at the north edge of the eastbound lane to avoid a storm, killing all but about a hundred of its five hundred passengers.
What does Dixon see in his first use of the subjunctivisor regarding Whimsy White?
He sees a miserable alternate life where he kept his stock market fortune and married Whimsy White, only for them to end up bitter and constantly arguing, proving he was lucky to have lost his money.
What motivates Dixon to use the subjunctivisor a second time?
His father's comment that the Baikal would have been late and avoided the crash if Dixon had been aboard makes him feel responsible for the passengers' deaths, driving him to find out what would have happened.
What does Dixon experience aboard the Baikal in the subjunctivisor's alternate reality?
He sits next to Joanna Caldwell, falls deeply in love with her over the course of the flight, and then the ship crashes into the Atlantic. He and Joanna apparently drown in the wreck.
How does Dixon discover that Joanna Caldwell is actually alive?
Van Manderpootz reminds him that the subjunctivisor only shows what 'would have' happened, not what actually did. They find a newspaper listing Joanna among the real-world survivors rescued by Navigator Orris Hope.
What is the final ironic twist of the story?
Dixon tracks down Joanna only to learn she has married Orris Hope, the officer who saved her life during the crash. Dixon was 'late again,' this time to a romance that never actually began.
What is Dixon Wells's defining character trait, and how does it drive the plot?
He is chronically late to everything. This trait causes him to miss the Baikal, leads to his encounter with van Manderpootz, and ultimately costs him the chance to meet Joanna in real life.
How does Professor van Manderpootz view himself in relation to other scientists?
He has an enormous ego, dismissing contemporaries as 'jackals' and considering only Einstein and de Sitter as worthy of being ranked 'just below' himself. He plans an autobiography and a sculptured bust as legacies.
Who is Joanna Caldwell and what are her aspirations?
She is a young fashion illustrator who saved for three years to fund a year of art study in Paris. She has silver-blue eyes and brown hair, and Dixon falls in love with her in the subjunctivisor's alternate reality.
Who is Whimsy White and what role does she play in the story?
She is a former television star Dixon pursued during the boom years. The subjunctivisor reveals that marrying her would have led to a miserable life of constant fighting, making Dixon grateful he lost his fortune.
Who is Navigator Orris Hope and why is he significant?
He is a twenty-eight-year-old officer on the Baikal who heroically saved many passengers during the crash, including Joanna Caldwell. He ultimately marries Joanna, becoming Dixon's unseen romantic rival.
What role does fate versus free will play in the story?
Dixon's habitual lateness appears to be an unchangeable aspect of his character that shapes his destiny. Even when the subjunctivisor reveals alternate outcomes, his fundamental nature ensures he is always 'too late.'
How does the story explore the idea that misfortune can be a hidden blessing?
Van Manderpootz reframes the old saying to 'It might have been worse.' Both subjunctivisor sessions show Dixon that outcomes he regretted (losing money, missing the flight) actually spared him from worse fates.
What does the story suggest about the gap between imagined and actual experience?
Dixon falls in love with Joanna through a hypothetical vision, not real experience. The subjunctivisor shows only what 'might have been,' yet Dixon's emotions are painfully real, highlighting how imagination can create genuine attachment.
How does the story treat the theme of regret and 'what if' thinking?
It literalizes the universal human tendency to wonder about roads not taken. The subjunctivisor shows that alternate paths often contain their own disappointments, yet Dixon still ends up with a new regret he could not have anticipated.
What type of irony is used in the story's ending when Dixon discovers Joanna married Orris Hope?
Situational irony. Dixon's lateness saved his life but cost him the chance to meet Joanna. The very trait that kept him alive also ensured he would lose the woman he fell in love with through the subjunctivisor.
How does Weinbaum use the first-person narrator to create dramatic irony throughout the story?
Dixon narrates events with self-deprecating humor, unaware of how his chronic lateness will ultimately affect him. The reader recognizes the pattern of consequences before Dixon does, creating dramatic tension.
What is the function of the recurring motif of lateness in the story's structure?
Lateness serves as a structural thread connecting every plot point: missing the Baikal, arriving late to van Manderpootz, coming too late to use the subjunctivisor again, and arriving too late to court Joanna.
How does Weinbaum use the story-within-a-story technique with the subjunctivisor visions?
The two subjunctivisor sessions function as embedded narratives that contrast with the framing story. The Whimsy White vision is comedic and cautionary, while the Joanna vision is romantic and tragic, both enriching the main narrative.
What does the word 'subjunctive' mean, and why does van Manderpootz name his device the 'subjunctivisor'?
The subjunctive is a grammatical mood used for hypothetical or conditional statements ('if I had done X'). The device shows worlds of 'if,' so the name reflects its function of visualizing hypothetical realities.
What does the word 'extemporal' mean as van Manderpootz uses it?
It means existing outside of time. Van Manderpootz uses it to describe the conditional worlds that are neither past nor future but exist parallel to the present in a hypothetical state.
What does 'inchoate' mean in the context of the psychomat's sounds?
It means just beginning to form, not yet fully developed. Dixon describes the psychomat's humming as 'inchoate sounds' that resemble distant voices but lack clarity without an accompanying visual picture.
What is the significance of van Manderpootz's quote: 'It might have been -- worse!'?
He modifies Whittier's famous line 'Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been!' to argue that alternate outcomes are usually worse than reality, making his device a contribution to human happiness.
What does Dixon mean when he says 'I had almost become the late Mr. Wells in a grimmer sense'?
He is making a pun on 'late,' which can mean both tardy and deceased. By missing the doomed Baikal flight due to his chronic tardiness, his habitual lateness paradoxically saved his life.
What is the meaning of Dixon's final line, 'I was late again'?
It echoes the story's central motif one final time. Dixon arrived too late to meet Joanna before she married her rescuer, making his chronic lateness not just a comedic trait but a force that shaped the most important missed connection of his life.