History Literature / TheDemolishedMan

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Reich, to Jerry Church: "[[OlderThanTheyThink What do you want?]]"

It was the first winner of a Hugo Award.

* SocietyMarchesOn: Despite the characters stated disconnect from the 20th century, the book is pretty emblematic of the time it was written in respect to gender roles, although Ms. Wyg& clearly has an active sex life which is only complained about when she distracts undercover cops. On the other hand, there is a scene where a black applicant is accepted into the Esper's Guild on account of his latent talent, which suggests that at least their group is meritocratic. Also, the president of the Guild is Asian.

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: [[spoiler: What it means to be "demolished", a process of LossOfIdentity which at the end of the book happens to Ben Reich. Granted, it's used here as an alternative to capital punishment so it arguably avoids the FamilyUnfriendlyAesop that usually comes from this trope.]]

Creator/AlfredBester's other famous novel besides ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'', ''The Demolished Man'' is a ReverseWhodunnit centering on Ben Reich's attempt to get away with the murder of a hated business rival and the efforts of psychic policeman Lincoln Powell to prove his guilt. The novel heavily inspired the psychic police of ''Series/BabylonFive'', although the ones in the novel are by far more benevolent. The name of the author was used for the [=PsiCop=] character played by Walter Koenig, along with possibly the DeathOfPersonality inspired from "Demolition", the "what do you want?" question by Morden, and an EarWorm being used to block telepathic scanning.

Also, it was the first winner of a Hugo Award.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* EarWorm: An {{in-universe}} example, which Reich uses to protect himself from telepathy.

* MutantDraftBoard: The Espers Guild which is based in part on something like a bar or medical association, especially in the sense of mandating using their powers for beneficial ends, but also dominates the lives of its members, including [[StalkerWithATestTube stipulating that they marry one of their own]], since the gift is hereditary. Senior Guild members also have to pay most of their income to support the Guild, which becomes a plot point when [[spoiler: a disgruntled Esper shows Reich how to defeat a mind scan in exchange for support in his campaign to reduce the Esper tithing rate.]]

* AdaptationExpansion: The plot remains the same in the original magazine version and the novel, but some elements (such as Powell's NoodleIncident) only appear in the novel.