Content Warning: The source text and this study guide discuss oppression, mental and physical control, wartime violence, addiction, suicide, and sexual abuse.

Brainwashing technology is a key motif in the collection, in stories including “Liberation Day” and “Elliot Spencer.” In both stories, oppressed groups—who are made up of formerly impoverished and vulnerable people—undergo brainwashing procedures which scrape their entire memories. These characters are then impressionable tools which can be easily manipulated by powerful groups; in both “Liberation Day” and “Elliot Spencer,” however, brainwashed characters have moments of recollection of their past lives, which lead them to rebel against their oppressors. In other stories, such as “Ghoul,” a form of brainwashing occurs when manipulative regimes are able to spread falsehoods to citizens over the courses of their entire lives, thereby feeding them a completely warped idea of society and their roles within it. In all of the stories in which brainwashing or brainwashing technology appear, the victims have brief instances of mental autonomy in which they suddenly understand that they are being damaged by a self-serving power or group. These flashes of remembrance or understanding point to theme of Oppression and Control throughout the entire collection, in that the brainwashed characters are able to use mental wherewithal and flashes of personal autonomy to understand the web of oppression that implicates them and, in some cases, to formulate rebellions or escape plans.