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
Approaching Japetus, Bowman becomes convinced the moon, with its white ellipse surrounded by all black, is a massive empty eye. Fifty thousand miles out, Bowman realizes there is a “tiny black dot” at the center of the eye. However, with the ship entering its “terminal maneuvers,” Bowman refuses to be distracted. As the ship closes distance to the moon, he anxiously monitors the ship’s fuel, hoping it will not run out before entering Japetus’s orbit. It does not. Fifty miles out, the engines release their final thrust, putting Discovery into Japetus’s orbit, the “satellite of a satellite.”
Unyielding in his concentration and commitment to the mission, Bowman refuses to be distracted by the captivating appearance of the moon’s surface. Both for his own sake, and for humanity’s, he needs to successfully enter Japetus’s orbit before running out of fuel. While lesser astronauts might falter under such pressure, Bowman remains resolute.
Themes
