Project Gutenberg 2016-01-05 Public domain in the USA. 95 Smith, Evelyn E. 1922 2000 Ashman, William Ashman Tea Tray in the Sky Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Tea Tray in the Sky" by Evelyn E. Smith is a science fiction novella written during the early 1950s. The story explores themes of societal norms and cultural taboos through the experiences of a young man named Michael Frey, who embarks on a journey from the secluded life of a Brotherhood to the bustling and diverse society of Portyork, Earth, within a cosmopolitan United Universe. It critiques the rigid conventions governing interaction and relationships among various alien races and humans. Michael Frey, having grown up in a Brotherhood away from society, is eager to explore the outer world after years of isolation. As he arrives in Portyork, he is quickly encumbered by the myriad taboos and expectations of the diverse population he encounters. With the help of a salesman named Pierce B. Carpenter, Michael navigates the complexities of social customs—from the absurdities of etiquette to the restrictions on personal relationships. Despite the initial thrill of freedom, he finds himself increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of mandatory sharing of relationships and the superficial nature of societal interactions. Ultimately, Michael concludes that the structured yet simple life of the Brotherhood is preferable to the chaotic and impersonal world outside, leading him to return home, embracing his origins over the confusing complexities of civilization. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories Manners and customs -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 58809 58814 2024-09-21T09:39:06.299770 2023-09-22T06:57:01.445618 text/html text/html 55519 2016-01-05T07:23:28 text/html; charset=us-ascii 383065 2016-01-08T16:55:08 text/html; charset=us-ascii application/zip 429242 2024-09-21T09:39:08.404730 application/epub+zip 428172 2024-09-21T09:39:06.783766 application/epub+zip 85032 2024-09-21T09:39:06.513765 application/epub+zip 466903 2024-09-21T09:39:09.827760 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 459353 2024-09-21T09:39:08.170740 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 117063 2022-09-23T06:25:19.179617 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 51504 51409 2024-09-21T09:39:06.135744 2023-09-22T06:57:01.192616 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 51746 2016-01-05T07:23:28 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 20586 2016-01-08T16:55:08 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 19282 2024-09-21T09:39:10.838722 application/rdf+xml 26089 2024-09-21T09:39:06.589789 image/jpeg 4270 2024-09-21T09:39:06.547806 image/jpeg 384396 2024-09-21T09:39:06.321822 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia