Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman | Marm: A Memorable Character
In the following essay, Bryant calls Marm ‘‘one of the most memorable characters in modern short fiction’’ and draws connections between his actions and that of a float rider in a Mardi Gras or Carnival parade.
At one point in Harlan Ellison’s futuristic short story ‘‘‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman,’’ Everette Marm, the tale’s rebel protagonist, swoops down in his airboat on a group of factory workers about to begin the five p.m. shift and bombards them with a multitude of jelly beans. ‘‘One hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of jelly beans cascaded down on the expresstrip. Jelly beans! Millions and billions of [them . . .] coming down in a steady rain, a solid wash, a torrent of color and sweetness out of the sky from above.’’ Marm’s reason for...
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