Annotation - Chapter 8, Page 47
From Riddley Walker Annotations
- (47:13) "hes got like a iron hat on his head"
Primitive science fiction: Eusa's knowledge is sucked out of his head into a computer. Riddley's people don't seem to have any conception of intelligent machines, and in such a head-centric culture, the idea of having a "No. 2 head" (as opposed to the other "main part" or "little head" that Eusa joked about earlier) would presumably be both fascinating and repellent.
An "iron hat" made an earlier appearance in Hoban's 1974 children's book How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen, where such a hat (though it only conveys sternness, rather than providing any computer power) is worn by Miss Fidget Wonkham-Strong.