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Earth’s atmosphere symbolizes the unlikeliness of life on Earth, as well as the meaning that one’s relationships can provide in one’s life. Early in the novel, Joan reflects that “the human body” and “intelligent life as it is” came about due to the conditions that arose on Earth as a result of Earth’s atmosphere. Joan then points out that humans are, at this point, the only known intelligent life in the universe. Through that telling, the novel underlines the idea that the existence of humanity in itself is something exceedingly rare and unlikely, which came about due to Earth’s atmosphere. When Joan travels to space, her ideas about the miraculous impacts of Earth’s atmosphere come into clearer focus. In space, Joan has the realization that her relationships with the people she loves, especially Vanessa and Frances, are what give her life meaning. She then feels that Earth’s atmosphere is the “most beautiful thing” she has ever seen because it is responsible for human life in the first place and also enables the people Joan loves to live. More than anything, Joan then wants to return to Earth and be inside Earth’s atmosphere so she can be close to the people she loves.
The novel dramatizes the importance of Earth’s atmosphere in its final scene. At the end of the novel, Vanessa’s survival comes down to the question of whether the Space Shuttle will be able to withstand re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. If the Space Shuttle can’t withstand re-entry, then Vanessa won’t make it back to Earth, and Joan will never see her again. The danger of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere then represents the precarity of human life and the very real possibility that if Earth’s atmosphere didn’t exist, human life would never have come to be. Ultimately, though, the Space Shuttle makes it through the atmosphere, Vanessa survives, and she and Joan will be reunited on Earth. The scene thus underlines the novel’s use of the Earth’s atmosphere as a symbol of the unlikelihood of human existence and the meaning that one’s relationships can provide in one’s life.
Earth’s Atmosphere Quotes in Atmosphere
The Atmosphere quotes below all refer to the symbol of Earth’s Atmosphere. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
The human body—intelligent as it is—was formed in response to the atmosphere of Earth.
It would be easy to make the case that humans are ill-equipped to be in space. Whatever led to our design, it was not meant for this. But Joan sees it as the exact opposite.
Human intelligence and curiosity, our persistence and resilience, our capacity for long-term planning, and our ability to collaborate have led the human race here.
In Joan’s estimation, we are not ill-suited at all. We are exactly who should be out there. We are the only intelligent life-form that we know of in our galaxy who has become aware of the universe and worked to understand it.
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Chapter 17 Quotes
“It’s so small,” Harrison said, having just floated up beside her.
Joan nodded. “It’s a midsize planet orbiting a midsize star in a galaxy of a hundred billion stars. In a universe of one hundred billion galaxies.”
“With almost five billion people on the planet,” Harrison said.
Joan nodded.
“Hard to believe any one person has any significance,” he said. “I knew that before, but I never knew it, until now. Human life is…meaningless.”
Joan looked at him.
How was it that two people, right next to each other, given the rarest of perspectives, could draw two totally opposite conclusions?
When Joan looked back at the Earth, she was overwhelmed with her own life’s meaning—and the fact that the only meaning it could have was the meaning she gave it.
Joan studied the thin blue, hazy circle that surrounded the Earth. The atmosphere was so delicate, nearly inconsequential. But it was the very thing keeping everyone she loved alive.
Intelligent life was her meaning.
People were her meaning.
Frances and Vanessa.
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Chapter 19 Quotes
The way the universe had developed—the way God itself unfolded—was that Vanessa had been here for thirty-seven years.
But Joan had been given four of them.
She had been given so much of Vanessa when so few ever understood her at all. She had been given that face to sketch for the rest of her life. To spend her days trying and failing to capture her hair.
In this one moment of brilliant clarity—a clarity Joan knows she will lose her grasp on within seconds, and have to fight like hell for years to come back to—Joan understands that God gave her something spectacular. A love, and a life, beyond the confines of her imagination.
Small, slight, unimportant Joan. Just one person of five billion, on a small planet orbiting a small star, in a humble galaxy, one of billions of galaxies. Joan is so insignificant and yet, look what God had given her. Look at all that God had given her. Look at what no one will ever be able to take away.
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Earth’s Atmosphere Symbol Timeline in Atmosphere
The timeline below shows where the symbol Earth’s Atmosphere appears in Atmosphere. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 19
...fix the bay doors, then it’s likely that the shuttle won’t remain intact when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere . Given those considerations, Joan tells Vanessa that NASA is ordering Vanessa to go and...
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...there’s no response. Joan then knows what has happened: the shuttle didn’t make it through Earth's atmosphere , and Vanessa has died. For a moment, Joan experiences a glimpse of clarity and...
(full context)
