A Personality Shown in Material Possessions
From “Sandkings,” by George R. R. Martin:
Simon Kress lived alone in a sprawling manor house among the dry, rocky hills fifty kilometers from the city. So, when he was called away unexpectedly on business, he had no neighbors he could conveniently impose on to take his pets. The carrion hawk was no problem; it roosted in the unused belfry and customarily fed itself anyway. The shambler Kress simply shooed outside and left to fend for itself; the little monster would gorge on slugs and birds and rockjocks. But the fish tank, stocked with genuine Earth piranha, posed a difficulty. Kress finally just threw a haunch of beef into the huge tank. The piranha could always eat each other if he were detained longer than expected. They’d done it before. It amused him.
George R. R. Martin’s classic horror “Sandkings” wastes no time getting your attention. It might just take a second look to grasp what you’re reading.
Although this first paragraph of Martin’s short story may, at first, look only like a description of Kress’ location, status, preferred company, and surrounding environment, it becomes much more than those points. It becomes a thorough explanation of the main character’s attitude and personality.
Kress comes into focus here through indirect means.
His location — he “lived alone” “fifty kilometers from the city” — shows him as loner, an outsider who wants to be removed from the rest of society.
He has created his own castle, a “sprawling manor house” that you might think impresses only the rocky hills. Yet, you learn about his assortment of creatures like the hawk and shambler and piranha. Through the existence of those pets, it becomes clear that Kress does not wish to be completely alone, only alone in the manner he chooses.
Kress’ ego spreads throughout the place. He has a belfry and enough space that the hawk can move about. The piranha tank is described as “large” in a building already impressive in its expanse.
Additional details about his personality arrive in tidbits like the description of “genuine Earth piranha” and the problem of pet-sitting during a business trip. These suggest, respectively, that Kress values the origin and status of his things and that he would have imposed his problem on another person if they were available.
No matter for that last problem since, you learn, he’s amused anyway when the animals are stressed enough to fight each other.
Kress is cruel, demanding, showy, aggressive, and egoistic. But Martin never once tells you that Kress is anything.
“Sandkings,” on its surface and at its most basic, is a story about an individual who adopts a new collection of pets, his sandkings. Things get out of control, of course, and you experience much about how he and others abuse their relation with his pets.
It is all secondary, however, to Kress’ inner life. The sandkings, his other pets, and the select people Kress interacts with reveal what kind of mind would live removed from society and take perverse joy in these material possessions.
This excellent introduction sets the stage for all of that. It lets you know what Kress is destined for, even if he’s too consumed within the material world to know it himself.