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
Falling through the monolith, Bowman wishes he had learned more about theories of trans-dimensional ducts. Though the star-filled walls around him begin to move faster and faster, the end of the tunnel appears to move no closer. He also notices time begins to slow, eventually stopping entirely. Despite all this, Bowman feels no fear. He had traveled millions of miles to find mystery, and now it is “coming to him.” Finally, the end of the tunnel begins to widen, obeying the normal rules of perspective.
Returning to Bowman’s perspective, the narrator relates his experience falling through the Star Gate. Despite the surreal, otherworldly experience, Bowman does not feel any fear—an illustration of Bowman’s bravery, as well as his excitement to finally be unraveling the monolith’s mystery.
Themes
Bowman emerges into a world completely alien to the “experience of Man.” Completely devoid of atmosphere, the entire surface of the world appears to be made of “artificial patterns,” covered in shafts identical to the one he just emerged from. Noticing the milky white sky, Bowman feels a profound sense of alienation, confident this was “not a place for Man.” Flying over the barren landscape, he sees the ruin of a giant ship, and is passed—and ignored—by an enormous, needle-shaped golden ship. Suddenly, he descends towards a new shaft and Bowman realizes he must be in an interstellar transportation hub—the “Grand Central Station of the galaxy.”
Bowman’s previous feelings of alienation on his outbound trip to Jupiter turn out to be a mere prelude to his experience here on the other end of the Star Gate. As alien as Jupiter and Saturn might have seemed, the world encountered here fills Bowman with an overwhelming sense of estrangement, concluding it is “not a place for Man.” As such, this scene underscores the immense gulf between humanity and the monolith’s creators.
Themes
