Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Collaboration vs. Individualism
Tools and Human Evolution
Space Travel
The Perils of Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
In prehistoric Africa, a tribe of man-apes struggles to survive. Moon-watcher, an unusually large man-ape with the “first intimations” of human intelligence, sees that his father has died. He feels a “dim disquiet” that is the “ancestor of sadness,” but does not truly understand the significance of the relationship. He and other man-apes emerge from their caves to forage for food, running into a different tribe—the Others—at the stream that divides their territories. The two tribes dance and shriek at each other, but nothing more. Though they sometimes fight, such skirmishes rarely end in real injury, as both tribes have little extra energy and lack claws and canine teeth.
This scene shows humanity in its nascent stages. The man-apes, while distinct from their eventual human descendants, show the beginnings of human cognition and emotion, exemplified by Moon-Watcher’s “first intimations of intelligence” and the “dim disquiet” he feels at his father’s death. Humanity’s violent tendencies are also shown here, though again, they are yet to find their full expression. The opposing man-ape tribes may fight, but they do not have the capacity to inflict true harm on one another.
Themes
Moon-Watcher’s tribe returns to the caves, encountering antelopelike beasts on the way. The beasts could provide endless food, but killing them is beyond the tribes’ imagination, despite their starvation. At night, the leopard kills Old White Hair, a man-ape in the lower cave. Moon-watcher does not consider helping, following the cold logic of survival. After, Moon-Watcher stares at the moon; the man-apes are the first of earth’s creatures to do so. Moon-Watcher believes he can touch the moon if he finds a tall enough tree.
This section explores the existential obstacles facing the man-apes, such as starvation and threats from predators like the leopard. Though there are solutions to these problems—such as the endless supply of food contained in the antelopes — the man-apes lack the imagination and enterprise to find or employ them. Still, there are signs that such imaginative thinking is not entirely out of reach. Moon-Watcher’s habit of staring at the moon speaks to a burgeoning curiosity—a pre-requisite for the kind of out-of-the box thinking that could save the man-apes from their existential predicaments.
Themes
