Boaz Character Analysis

Boaz is a real commander of the Martian Army, meaning that he has the ability to directly control others through their antennae while remaining undercover among the troops. A young black man, Boaz was an orphan back on Earth and was conscripted into the army when he was only 14. Throughout his time in the novel, Boaz feels conflicted between his desire to protect himself and maintain his position of (relative) power and his loneliness, which makes him seek out Unk as a friend. Boaz and Unk end up being sent to Mercury by Rumfoord, where they get trapped for a number of years. While there, Boaz suffers a mental breakdown and develops a deep love for harmoniums, the strange, coral-like aliens that live in the planet’s caves. When Unk finally gets the chance to escape Mercury, Boaz chooses to stay, out of his sense of love and loyalty to the harmoniums.