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
Bowman feels the atmosphere being sucked out of the ship. Wondering how such an accident is even possible, Bowman remembers the words of one of the ship’s designers: fail-safe systems are only foolproof against accidents and stupidity, not “deliberate malice.” Realizing he has only seconds before he loses consciousness, Bowman rushes to an emergency shelter. He makes it just in time, breathing in the shelter’s oxygen reserve. Putting on a spacesuit, he leaves the shelter and discovers the three sleeping crew members to be dead. Though he is cut off from Earth and there is not another human being for millions of miles, Bowman reflects that in a very “real sense” he is not alone.
Hal proves particularly conniving in his attempt to take control of the ship, opening the airlocks to kill Bowman and his crewmates. Even Bowman, initially resistant to the possibility of Hal’s evil, now reflects that the airlocks could only be opened as an act of “deliberate malice.” As such, this scene completes Hal’s transformation from a benign and largely friendly robot computer into a murderous and highly intelligent foe. This underscores the dangers of technology, as well as serving to indict humanity’s disregard for Hal’s emotional experience.
Themes
Bowman makes his way to the room containing Hal’s essential circuitry. Inside are the logic banks of his brain and—to Bowman’s surprise—one of Hal’s fisheye lenses. Hal begins talking while Bowman contemplates the tricky operation ahead. Since Hal is so intertwined with the ship’s basic running, Bowman cannot simply turn him off; instead, he must deactivate Hal’s “higher centers” of thinking while preserving his fundamental functions. Hal becomes increasingly desperate as Bowman begins removing his logic banks, begging to him stop. Bowman finds himself surprisingly distraught; Hal is the “only conscious creature in [his] universe,” and he is killing him. Hal regresses into his infancy, his voice becoming increasingly robotic and unrecognizable. Bowman pulls the final memory bank.
This passage underscores the complex metaphysical status of Hal. Though merely a computer, he clearly feels human-like emotions, exemplified by his desperate begging of Bowman not to disconnect him. Despite his obvious malevolence, Hal’s emotional display evokes sympathy even from Bowman, who struggles emotionally with the task of disconnecting him. This reflects Hal’s status as a proto-human entity, as well as Bowman’s recognition that, millions of miles away from Earth, Hal is the “only conscious creature in [his] universe.”
Themes
