Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Three-Body Problem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Technology, Progress, and Destruction
Scientific Discovery and Political Division
Trauma and Cyclical Harm
Theory vs. Lived Experience
History and Legacy
Summary
Analysis
Wang is confused why the Red Coast Project had such a high security clearance; after all, only in recent years had society decided that contacting extraterrestrials was likely a bad idea. This shift in thinking occurred when Bill Mathers of the RAND Corporation published his theory of “contact as symbol.” According to this theory, if one country made contact with aliens—even if that contact was not substantive—“the significance would be comparable to an overwhelming advantage in economic and military power.” Thus, any contact with aliens would widen already-existing divides and intensify human conflict, so humanity decided to stop trying to reach extraterrestrials.
Though Bill Mathers and his theory are fictional, the RAND Corporation is a real place, a think tank that works primarily with the U.S. armed forces. This theory suggests the psychological effects of one nation accomplishing what others cannot—even the idea that only one nation could be capable of contacting aliens could damage its competitors’ psyches dramatically. Just as they did with nuclear weapons, then, earth’s various countries therefore decided it was safest to mutually agree to stop trying to reach aliens.
Themes
Ye then tells Wang about the theory that there are three types of civilizations. Type I civilizations can master the total energy output of the earth; Type II civilizations can output as much energy as a star; and Type III civilizations can output as much energy as a galaxy. Two Type I civilizations would not be able to create radio signals strong enough to reach each other across space. Because of this fact, Ye Wenjie resigned herself to the idea that Red Coast would probably never make contact with aliens—and more than that, she and her colleagues gave up hope that any kind of alien life even existed.
In this categorization of civilizations, human beings like Ye Wenjie assume that any other alien civilization will likely not be any more advanced than humanity is; since humans can only master Type I energy output, they can only imagine aliens at the same level. For Ye, this means one more disappointing relationship: rather than finding companionship in alien life, she has to relinquish the idea that such a thing will likely ever happen.
Themes
Over time, Red Coast’s security clearance was removed, and the base took on other, unrelated projects under the leadership of Commissar Lei. It was during this time that Ye married Yang Weining. Eventually, though, an accident on the base killed both Lei and Yang Weining; shortly after that, Yang Dong was born. A few years later, the base was turned over to civilian use and then abandoned.
The source of the terror Wang saw on Yang Dong’s face in her childhood photo now comes clear: in addition to having the deeply traumatized Ye as her mother, Yang never got to meet her father. And through all of this, the base where she had grown up—her only home—was abandoned and made unlivable.
Themes
Ye begins to reflect on the personal difficulties of studying alien life. She tells Wang that when she realized there was no other life in the universe, she began to feel like “a poor child abandoned in the desert,” believing that humanity was an “accident.” Before Wang leaves, Ye tells him that she now lives her life “day to day.” As Wang looks at this old woman, he thinks with pity of the loss she has suffered.
Ye now directly contrasts her younger self with her current, more resigned state. The younger Ye could not see past her trauma; she was a permanent “child,” haunted by the sense of abandonment that had set in during the height of the Cultural Revolution. But as an old woman, she has found comfort not in science but in everyday life, whether that involves helping Wang or taking care of her neighbors’ kids.
Themes
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