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
The furniture returns into the mind of its creator, leaving only the bed behind. As he sleeps, something enters Bowman’s mind, and he sees an infinite grid of geometric lines. He realizes he is witnessing the working of an enormous mind. The vision fades and Bowman moves into a state of consciousness never experienced by a human. Bowman watches his life rewind, draining him of his memories for safekeeping. As one David Bowman ceases to exists, another becomes immortal. The “wells” of Bowman’s “memory nearly dry,” time slows down, freezing momentarily before the start of the next cycle. Then, in a room 20,000 light-years from Earth, a baby opens its eyes and cries.
This passage highlights the god-like abilities of the monolith’s creators. Possessed of a seemingly endless, omniscient consciousness, the alien probes Bowman’s sleeping mind, inducing a profound psychological state, and “draining” Bowman of his memories. Such powers not only transcend human ability, but also comprehension. The narrator’s rampant use of metaphor here reflects this; where he typically uses dense, technological language to depict the events of the novel, here he can only describe Bowman’s experience abstractly.
Themes
