Summary
The man-apes of the world, who lived by gathering berries and nuts, were facing a lack of food. A giant monolith appeared on Earth one day and began to experiment with many of them, probing and developing their minds. Among those in whom the monolith took an interest was Moon-Watcher, the only man-ape who walked fully upright. At night, a few select man-apes were taught and during the day, they innovated. Moon-Watcher discovered that he could fashion tools with which to kill animals for sustenance—the man-apes' hunger problem was solved. Time passed and the man-ape evolved. His brain grew, he invented language and organized into civilizations, and he invented weapons—first knives, but then guns and finally nuclear missiles. Such innovations had been central in man's dominion over earth, but "as long as they existed, he was living on borrowed time."
Eager to embark on another space mission, Dr. Heywood Floyd arrived at the Florida launch location after meeting with the president. He offered no comment to the press, nor would he reveal the details of mission to the crew that served him so faithfully on board or to his Russian friend whom he encounters at the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. space station, a stop on his journey to the Moon. Upon his arrival, Floyd is greeted by a top official of the Moon colony and whisked off to a meeting. A lead scientist explains that they had found a magnetic disturbance in Tycho, one of the Moon's craters. An examination of the area had revealed a large black slab, called Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-One (TMA-1). It was precisely fashioned and, at three million years of age, predates humans. It is the first definitive proof of the existence of extra-terrestrial, intelligent life. Floyd and a team of scientists drive across the moon to actually view TMA- 1. When they uncover the giant, black slab and sunlight hits upon it for the first time, it sends forth a piercing sound and a strong wave signal to the far reaches of the universe.
David Bowman and Frank Poole were the conscious human beings aboard the Discovery space mission to Saturn. Three of their colleagues were hibernating, to be woken when they approached Saturn. Additionally, Hal, an artificially intelligent computer maintained the ship and was an active part of life aboard. Bowman and Poole's day-to-day lives had been immaculately planned. Their days were highly structured to ensure the continued success of the mission and to make sure that nothing went wrong.
The ship was nearing Jupiter. Here, it released probes to gather information to be sent back to Earth and studied. Discovery then took advantage of Jupiter's gravitational field to get an extra push and speed on toward Saturn.
Poole is watching a birthday video transmitted to him by his family back home when Hal interrupts to tell him that the AE-35 unit of the ship is set to malfunction. Poole takes one of the extra-vehicular pods and replaces the AE-35 unit, which is critical for maintaining radio contact with Earth. Bowman conducts tests on the AE-35 unit that has been replaced and discovers that nothing is wrong with it. Later, Hal claims that the second AE-35 unit is set to fail. Suspicious, Poole and Bowman radio back to Earth; they are told that something is wrong with Hal and are given instructions to shut him off. These instructions are interrupted as the signal fades—the AE-35 unit has malfunctioned. Poole and Bowman try begin to wonder how they will re-establish communication with Earth.
Poole takes a Pod outside the ship to bring in the failed AE-35 unit. As he is working on dislodging the unit, the pod, which he had left further from the ship, begins moving toward him. He is unable to move out of the way in time and he is killed by the collision. Bowman is shocked by Poole's death and is deeply distraught. He wonders whether Hal really could have killed Poole. He decides that he will need to wake the three other astronauts from their hibernation. He has a long argument with Hal, at the end of which, because Bowman threatens to disconnect him, Hal agrees to give him manual control over the process of ending the hibernation. As Bowman is beginning to thaw out his colleagues, he feels a cold chill enter the ship. The airlock doors on bottom have been opened. Everything on the ship begins violently fluttering about. The pressure on board is significantly dropping as the ship is equilibrating with the vacuum outside. Bowman claws his way into a sealed emergency chamber where he drinks from an emergency oxygen supply. Bowman then descends to the ship's innards and disconnects Hal, who he realizes has turned murderer. Bowman puts the ship back in order and re-establishes contact with Earth. Only then does he learn that the true purpose of the mission is to explore Japetus, a moon of Saturn, and learn more about the civilization that left TMA-1 behind on the Moon.
Bowman learns that Hal had begun to feel guilty about keeping the purpose of the mission from him and Poole. This had begun to manifest itself in little errors. Ultimately, when Hal was threatened with being shut off, he felt the need to defend himself, as if his very existence were at stake.
Bowman spends months on the ship, alone, preparing to rendezvous with Japetus. He notices a small black spot on the moon. When he gets closer, he realizes that this is an immense black slab, similar to TMA-1, only much larger. He takes one of the extra-vehicular pods in an attempt to land on the slab. The slab, which had been inert for so long, opens and is full of stars. It swallows Bowman's pod and disappears from Japetus. Mission control never hears from Bowman again.
Bowman was whisked through a field of stars that seemed as though it had no end. Finally, he was released into a faraway world only to be swallowed back into the Star Gate and repeat the process again. Eventually, he is brought to what appears to be a nice hotel suite, carefully constructed to make him feel at home. Bowman lies down to go to sleep. While he sleeps, his mind and memories are drained from his body and preserved in a light structure. David Bowman is being made immortal and without a body. Bowman returns to our solar system and looks over Earth. A nuclear warhead has been fired; Bowman detonates the warhead in the air, saving the world from nuclear destruction.
Character List
Hal - A robot. Created in a lab, Hal is not human, but he is intelligent. He can carry on a conversation just as a human. Being a robot, however, he can also perform complex calculations and does not require sleep or food. As he becomes self- conscious, he develops a guilty and, ultimately, murderous streak in an attempt to preserve his existence.
Read an in-depth analysis of Hal.
David Bowman - A broadly skilled astronaut. David is chosen as one of two crew members to stay awake during the entire voyage to Saturn. He is intelligent and disciplined, which helps him survive the loneliness of Poole's death. He passes through the Star Gate and becomes transformed into an eternal being without a body.
Read an in-depth analysis of David Bowman.
Frank Poole - The other astronaut who is awake for the entire journey to Saturn. Poole is mechanically skilled and is the one who makes extra-vehicular trips, one of which ultimately results in his death.
Dr. Heywood Floyd - A senior government official. Floyd is sent to the moon to investigate TMA. He is an effective bureaucrat and a caring family man. He is one of the first men to see TMA-1 and to wonder about its consequences.
Ralph Halvorson - The Administrator of the Southern Province of the Moon. Ralph is another of the book's bureaucrats, the man who greets Floyd on his arrival to the moon.
Moon-Watcher - One of the most innately gifted man-apes. Moon-Watcher demonstrates the ability to walk upright and to engage in crude planning. His mind is pushed along a bit further by the black monolith.

Analysis of Major Character
Hal
The least human, but the most psychologically complex of the book's characters, Hal is an artificially intelligent robot. Conceived deep within the laboratories of men, he possesses an artificially created consciousness, tantamount to man's. Yet, he has the computing power and precision of the most advanced machine. His is programmed to essentially run the Discovery shuttle and to be able to communicate with its human occupants.

As the story develops, so does Hal. He begins to show signs of emotion—something he had not been explicitly programmed to display. Hal has been programmed to know the purpose of the Discovery mission, yet he is meant to keep it a secret from the people with whom he works constantly. This produces a great tension within Hal and the resulting feelings of guilt begin to manifest themselves. For the first time, Hal errs in his diagnosis of machinery. If he is discovered to have erred, he will be shut off. To Hal, being shut off is tantamount to death—the threat of this fate is too much for him to bear, so he hatches a plan. First, he sabotages the satellite connection with Earth. When Poole goes outside the ship to collect the second AE-35 unit, which Hal has diagnosed as faulty, Hal kills him. Otherwise, Hal is mistaken diagnosis would have been discovered and Hal threatened with death. Finally, when Hal realizes that Bowman suspects foul play, he attempts to rid the ship of all humans, so that he can continue on.
Hal's development is rooted in his development of self-consciousness. He is programmed as an incredibly complex being, to perform high-level tasks. Along the way and unplanned, however, he develops a notion of himself. He becomes aware of himself as someone who acts and makes choices. This leads Hal first to feel guilty—he sees that he is acting in a dishonest fashion. Then, when threatened with being shut off, Hal faces the ultimate loss. He has come to value his conscious process just as much as humans value their own lives. Because he conceives of himself as an individual and because he places value on his continued existence, Hal is led to pursue the most offensive murder so he can defend himself.
David Bowman
Bowman is interesting more for the incredibly unique experiences that he undergoes than for his personality, which is not deeply developed in 2001. A capable astronaut, he is one of the two chosen to man the entire trip to Saturn. The first major disruption occurs when Hal deliberately kills Poole and the rest of the hibernating crew. Bowman has to deal both with being alone and with a psychotic computer. He shows great poise in disconnecting Hal and putting the ship back in order. Finding out about the true nature of the mission, Bowman is galvanized. He becomes strictly disciplined and wonders about what his encounter with this other intelligent civilization will bring.
Bowman undergoes a second, radical transformation when, passing through the Star Gate, he is eventually stripped of his physical being and immortalized. Through this change he maintains a fondness for and interest in the affairs of Earth, revisiting it to save it from nuclear destruction.
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols
Themes
The Perils of Technology
2001: A Space Odyssey explores technological innovation, its possibilities and its perils. Two particular dangers of technology are explored in great detail. First, Hal presents the problems that can arise when man creates machines, whose inner workings he does not fully understand. Second, the book explores the dangers associated with the nuclear age. The novel issues a warning against the destructive power associated with that technological innovation in the military arena.
Evolution
2001 takes a long-term view of development, human and otherwise. The story traces the development of man from man-ape. Uniquely, 2001 considers not only the evolution that has led to the development of man, but also the evolution that man might undergo in the future. Thus, we follow Bowman as he is turned into a star-child by the advanced civilization of extra- terrestrial intelligence. The novel recognizes that evolutionary theory implies that humanity is not the final goal of some process, but only a stopping point on an undirected process. One way this process might continue, the book imagines, is that humans will learn to rid themselves of their biological trappings.
Space Exploration
When 2001: A Space Odyssey was written, Man had not yet even set foot on the moon. The space exploration programs in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were well underway, but the technology was only in its early stages. Much room was left to imagine the future of the space program. 2001 offers one such imagination, offering a glimpse at what space exploration might one day be. Lengthy journeys, such as manned flights to Saturn, and advanced technologies, such as induced human hibernation, are created and brought to life throughout the story.
Motifs
Technological Malfunctions
As Hal begins to malfunction, his action becomes less predictable and a lot more human. At first, this involves something relatively minor—reporting a part to be malfunctioning when it is, in fact, working fine. It is intriguing that Hal's malfunction causes him to incorrectly say that other things have malfunctioned. Hal's breaking down occurs against the backdrop of an otherwise immaculately crafted mission—this makes his malfunction stand out even more. This malfunction serves to warn against the perils of technology over which we do not have full control.
The Accouterments of Space Travel
Like any good science fiction novel, 2001 provides a detailed look at the scientific world it chronicles. Great care is taken to ensure that the reader gets a sense of the experience of the technology described in the book. Dr. Floyd's journey to Space Shuttle One is described with attention to details such as the experience of a high-acceleration liftoff, the adhesive sauces used to keep chops firmly in place on one's plate, and even the rotating bathroom that allows for the effect of gravity on the spaceship.
Omniscient Narration
The narrator of this book is omniscient—we see into everyone's head, are told their innermost thoughts and motivations. Events occurring millions of years apart and, even before humans existed, are reported to us in immaculate detail. This narration plays a key role in providing the varied and non-linear plot that composes the story of 2001. Without an omniscient narrator, it would seem quite difficult, for instance, to tell the tale of part one, in which moon watcher encounters the slab, or to fully reveal the inner psychology of Hal.
Symbols
Hal
Hal 2001, the eerily human-like computer aboard the Discovery space ship, represents technological advancement. It is symbolic of many long-held concerns about technology. First, Hal is artificially intelligent. It can think as well as, if not better than, any human. Second, its inner workings are not completely understood by his creators. With Hal, people have created a very powerful technology that they cannot fully control. When Hal begins to think on its own and deviate from the way in which it has been instructed, this is an expression of the fear many people held that our own technological advancement would come back to haunt us unexpected and unforeseen ways.
Summary Part One
The man-apes of Africa were perpetually starving, the victims of drought and lack of food. At dawn, Moon-Watcher noticed that his father had died, took the corpse out of the cave and continued about his business. Later he foraged for berries and other edible plants with two of his compatriots from other caves. Moon-Watch was one of the largest of his group and the only one able to walk upright. The tribe often went without food. As they gathered berries, the man-apes were unaware of the potential source of nourishment in the antelope- like creatures that ate beside them.
Moon-Watcher awoke late that night, to the sound of a large beast dragging a carcass. Then, he heard an unidentifiable sound, that had never before existed in the world—metal clanging against stone. As Moon-Watcher's tribe headed to the river, he first encountered the New Rock. After glaring at it, Moon- Watcher licked it, discovered it was of no nutritional value, and continued on. As the tribe approached the Rock on its way back from an unsuccessful day of foraging, a foreign sound, a repetitive vibration, began. As the sound increased in volume, the man-apes were drawn closer to the Rock; they stood in front of it, totally hypnotized. Unknown to the man-apes, their minds were being studied, their bodies probed, and their actions controlled.
One entranced man-ape picked up a piece of grass, tried and failed to tie a knot. Then another man-ape tried and another, until a young man-ape tied the first knot ever on Earth. When Moon-Watcher was possessed, he picked up stones, trying to throw them at a bulls-eye on the monolith. An intense pleasure overcame him when, after many attempts, he finally succeeded.
As the days went on, the monolith ignored most of the man-apes, but continued to interact with some of them, including Moon-Watcher. His mind was being developed, even though his instincts made him want to break free of the monolith. One day as a group of pigs came across his tribe, Moon-Watcher experienced an entirely new set of impulses. He looked around for a rock, picked it up and ran toward a pig, and killed it. The man-apes learned to feast on the dead pig—their hunger problem was solved.
The man-apes were taught to use many other tools and soon enough the tools became a part of their everyday lives. With near-starvation no longer a pressing concern, the man-apes first experience leisure and the evolutionary predecessor of thought. One day, Moon-Watcher's tribe came across a dead animal. As dusk was nearing, it was not safe for the man-apes to be out with the carcass. It dawned on Moon-Watch that he could drag the animal back to his cave. He began to do so, sometimes aided, sometimes hindered by the other members of his tribe, who could barely understand what he was doing.
Still, a giant and fearful leopard haunted the tribe. One evening, in came into Moon-Watcher's cave. He began to attack it with some of the tools they had developed for hunting. His fellow tribesman joined in and the leopard ran from the cave, disappearing over a precipice, and plunging to its death. The tribe found the dead leopard the following day. They cut off the head and carried it about with them. They displayed this to a rival tribe, which cowered in fear. Moon-Watcher began to understand that he need no longer feared the leopard, "now he was master of his world."
The 100,000 years since the monolith visited earth saw no new inventions among the man-apes, but they were refining their tools and learning to use them better. Their teeth became smaller as they further relied on tools; consequently, their jaw became more refined-the first step toward speech. Ice ages came and went and the descendents of the man-apes further developed their physical and mental abilities. At the end of this long process was man. The first men had no more advanced tools than the man apes, but they had speech and were able to share knowledge and pass it to the next generations. They began to develop more powerful tools and materials. He invented writing, philosophy, and religion. His weapons increased in scope-spears gave way to guns, which gave ways to guided missiles and nuclear warheads. These weapons had helped man conquer the world, but "as long as they existed, he was living on borrowed time."
Analysis
The book begins by describing creatures, "man-apes," who are the biological predecessors of humans. The narrator is omniscient, capable of describing the internal mental states of these creatures in ways they would not think. For instance, at the start of the book we are told that Moon-Watcher feels "a dim disquiet that was the ancestor of sadness." This type of talk is strange and unsettling to most people. We are not used to confronting the fact that we were evolved from "lower" beings in this way. By taking this perspective on the man- apes, the narrator jars us, putting people, including the reader, in their proper evolutionary framework. Humans are conceives as intimately related to the man-apes. The opening of the book implicitly connects us back with beings whom we would most likely consider animals.
The activities by the monolith offer a particularly interesting bit of science fiction, while raising many questions. The intelligent beings who begin to control the man-apes teach them to do various things, like tying knots and hunting. Still, not all man-apes can be taught—only certain ones are capable of learning, of being improved. This whole incident presents a new take on evolution, one in which an external entity intervenes to push forward human evolution. At the same time, this process retains many of the features of evolution—the man-apes are not extended beyond their natural limitations—nothing supernatural is occurring; they simply learn to use their natural endowment in new ways.
This whole episode raises a very interesting, counterfactual question. At this point in the book, the man-apes are starving. We wonder if they would have learned to hunt if the monolith never descended and the man-apes were never taught to hunt. Furthermore, the narrator expands on the significance to the man-apes of learning to hunt. Since they could hunt, they were no longer constantly concerned with the origin of their next meal and they had time for leisure and "the first rudiments of thought." If the man apes had never been taught by the monolith to hunt, would these behaviors have ever developed? Would humans have ever evolved or would the man apes have simply died out or produced a much less impressive evolutionary line?
At the end of part one the narrator comments, "as long as [nuclear weapons] existed, [man] was living on borrowed time." This foreboding sentence serves a number of purposes. First, it introduces to the narrative the notion that technology could pose a problem for people, foreshadowing the later developments of the book, in which technology gets beyond human control. Second, this statement begins to develop one of the major themes of the book-the potential destructive power of technology. While this point has become trite in contemporary society, there was a strong attitude, prevalent in the decade before 2001 was written, that developing technology would lead inexorably toward human progress.
Summary - Part Two
Though Dr. Heywood Floyd had been to Mars once and the Moon three times, he had never gotten over the excitement of space travel. As Dr. Floyd headed to his Florida launch location after a meeting with the president, he was bombarded with questions from reporters. He gave a quick "no comment," not willing to confirm nor deny a reporter's suspicion that an epidemic had broken out on the moon. Floyd boards his private flight to Space Station One and enjoyed the unnaturally high acceleration of takeoff.
Floyd watched the space station adjust to receive his incoming vessel and was greeted by Nick Miller of station security soon after the shuttle had fully docked. Floyd was brought to a lounge area to wait a half-hour before his flight to the moon. The Space Station was jointly operated by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., so it was no surprise when, after calling home to leave a message for his secretary, Floyd was approached by his friend Dr. Dimitri Moisevitch of the U.S.S.R. academy of Science. Moisevitch asked Floyd about the Quarantine in the U.S. sector of the moon. He wanted to know about the epidemic. Floyd insisted that he couldn't say anything. Finally, Moisevitch asked if he knew anything about TMA-1. Floyd feigned ignorance and was soon boarding his flight to the Moon.
On the trip over, Floyd caught up on world news, using his Newspad, before being entertained by the Balinese stewardess and, finally, heading to sleep. When Floyd awoke, they were nearing the moon. He noticed that the Earth, "a giant moon to the moon," was filling the moon with light. A crater filled his field of vision as the spaceship descended. After a routine flight, Dr. Floyd arrived on the moon.
Clavius, one of the moon's largest craters, was home to a base on the moon that could independently support human life. Many of the technologies developed during the cold war had been harnessed to create this technologically advanced environment. When Floyd reaches the Base, he is greeted by Ralph Halvorson, the man who oversees this area of the moon. They defer heading immediately to the briefing room in order to chat in his office. Halvorson explains that the moon dwellers are troubled by the secrecy surrounding TMA-1. They then head off to the briefing, Floyd eager to find out more about TMA-1.
Floyd conveys the president's thanks to the staff for their hard work and emphasizes the importance of secrecy until the facts are ascertained. Dr. Michaels begins his demonstration, showing a picture of Tycho, another moon crater. He then explains that in conducting a magnetic survey of the area, they discovered a disturbance there, Tycho Magnetic Anomoly One (TMA-1). A team of excavators was sent to the area and eventually unearthed a large, smoothly cut, black slab. At first, Michaels explains, it was thought that this might be related to the Chinese. But, he continues, they have now learned that this slab predates humans. It is three million years old and the first known sign of intelligent life.
Floyd joins a team driving across the moon in a mobile lab to TMA-1. Along the ride, he, Michaels and Halvorson speculate about the origin and nature of the big black slab. The slab had been a complete enigma and no one had been able to get inside of it. Surely, Floyd thought, those who left the slab could not have come from the earth or moon—other signs of this intelligent life would have been left behind. They arrived at the site and Dr. Floyd donned a space suit in order to get a closer look at the slab. After pausing for a photograph, Floyd watches the sun rise across the horizon as the slab is exposed to light for the first time in three million years. He and the rest of the crew are suddenly overcome by a loud and piercing noise.
Deep Space Monitor seventy-nine, 100 million miles from Earth, detected and sent to earth a panoply of information about the solar system. It had now recorded an unnatural disturbance that would be communicated back to Earth. When the Radiation Forecaster back on Earth saw this disturbance, he examined it more closely and discovered an energy pattern, racing away from the moon, headed out toward the far reaches of the Universe.
Analysis
In these chapters, we are introduced to many of the technologies of the book. Details of the food and drink in space, as well as the specially designed bathroom are presented. When we get to Clavius Base, Clarke is sure to describe the intricate details of the technological amenities he imagines necessary to sustain life in space. Perhaps most notable among the technologies in this section is the Newspad. This is the machine that Floyd uses to read news from the different electronic newspapers. It is amazing how much this technology resembles the technologies of the Internet and hand-held computers or personal digital assistants. It is quite remarkable that Clarke would have dreamed this up way back in the 1960s.
Even more remarkable than his imagination of the Newspad, however, is the following description Clarke offers of the world Floyd inhabits: "even if one read only the English versions (of the newspapers), one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever changing flow of information from the news satellites." In the 1960s, the American economy was still very much focused on industrial production. The "information age" that began in the 1990s was still decades away. In this passage, Clarke anticipates the glut of information that has come to be a reality in the actual world in 2001.
As Floyd nears the moon, the narrator describes how the moon grows beneath him, eventually filling his entire field of vision. The Earth is described as "a moon to the moon," lighting parts of the moon with light reflected form the sun. These descriptions invert the order of things as we are used to it. The Moon is presented as being like the Earth, and the Earth as like the Moon. This is only one instance of the many facets of space-travel that are so radically new. This description, as well as many others throughout the book, helps the reader to expand his horizons and see the world from an entirely different perspective. This is key in a novel like this, which, in order to achieve its full effect, requires the reader's ability to push his imagination to its limits.
As Floyd is beginning to examine the slab, he is stopped so that someone can photograph him. He finds this a bit odd, but is happy to have the pictures. This scene conveys the increasing tendency of man to record everything as it happens, to focus as much on the recording of events as on the events themselves.
Part Three
Summary
The Discovery journey had begun five years ago as a plan to send a man to Jupiter. With artificially induced human hibernation now shown to be safe, however, the extent of the journey grew—the astronauts were to be sent to Saturn. Though the expedition had begun only thirty days ago, David Bowman felt far, far away from earth and from his home. His own pre-flight experimentation with hibernation seemed but a distant memory. His only sentient traveling companion Frank Poole shared these sentiments, as the two were alone in an incredibly intelligent ship that also contained three hibernating astronauts.
Additionally, the ship contained a sixth crewmember. Hal was a product of the most advanced research in artificial intelligence. His brain had been grown through self-replicating neural networks, in a process extremely close to that with which the human brain developed. He was responsible for maintaining the trip throughout the journey. He could communicate with the crew by speaking with them. Further, only he knew the real purpose of the journey and could execute it alone were anything to happen to the humans on board.
Bowman and Poole's day-to-day activities had been immaculately planned. They were never both asleep at the same time. Food had been carefully prepared for their journey. Further, they received daily news updates and were able to spend time each day learning and relearning scientific material relevant to their journey. Many hours each day were spent checking and rechecking all of the controls and gauges on board to ensure that nothing had malfunctioned in the interim. On board, a rotating carrousel recreated the effect of gravity in one part of the ship. Here, the crew could shave or consume hot drinks without worry of stray hairs getting caught in the machinery or being burned by floating globules of hot coffee. Their days progressed rhythmically and methodically.
The ship passed through the asteroid belt in between Mars and Jupiter with relative ease. At one point they were to cross within 900 miles of an asteroid—the astronauts sent out a probe to collect data on the astronaut and proceeded, uneventfully, toward Jupiter.
Discovery began to approach Jupiter. First, it had to pass by many of Jupiter's planets, gathering information, particularly, as it passed by. During this phase of the journey, Bowman would often listen to a low frequency sound emitted by Jupiter that scientists had discovered nearly a half-century earlier; it amazed him to think that this sound, coming across the radio, had nothing to do with humans or Earth. As they got closer to Jupiter, it seemed that they were going to plunge into it; but the well-charted course they were on actually had them passing several hundred thousand miles away. The astronauts readied to release two probes to gather information from Jupiter. As Discovery passed to the other side of Jupiter, there was no direct line to earth and, as planned, radio contact was temporarily lost. The ship emitted its probed and positioned itself to use Jupiter's gravitational field to gain speed and head toward Saturn.
The first probe burned up almost immediately upon entering Jupiter's atmosphere. The second one made it a bit further along. Back on board, a television displayed the pictures from Jupiter as the probe descended into the atmosphere. It was able to provide only a brief picture though, as the probe eventually collapsed under the immense pressure of the Jovian atmosphere.
Analysis
This part introduces the third independent story line of 2001. The work develops by introducing these disparate story lines that it will ultimately bring together. Each of these stories provides one way of viewing intelligent life beyond earth. The first book provides a historical perspective, portraying the interaction of extra-terrestrial intelligent life with the earthly man-apes. The second book presents the discovery by humans of intelligent life that existed millions of years ago. Finally, the third story line presents a space exploration that, we will see, is related to these intelligent beings. This multi-faceted approach is distinctly Modernist, taking into account many perspectives on the same event. Interestingly, another feature of 2001 is that it is strikingly lacking in complexity. The narration of the story is omniscient. The narrator is not one of the characters of the story and has no limitations. Our narrator sees millions of years in the past and can peer inside the character's minds to uncover their deepest thoughts.
The foreshadowing of 2001 continues in the Third Book. At the end of Chapter 16, we are told that only Hal knew the true purpose of the mission. This is meant to arouse in the reader a suspicion and curiosity about the trip, which will be resolved later in the story. Furthermore, we are told that Hal is programmed to make his own decisions in the absence of other orders and that the humans on board are not necessary to the functioning of the ship. Thus, we are introduced to the notion that Hal is capable of making independent decisions, an ability that will play a significant role later on. We are also introduced to the possibility of a ship without human beings—an idea that Hal considers quite seriously once he begins to malfunction. At the end of Chapter 17 another explicit foreshadowing occurs—the narrator writes: "The greatest hope Discovery's little crew was that nothing would mar this peaceful monotony in the weeks and months that lay ahead. This introduces the possibility, which is later borne out, that something will disrupt the peace.
Toward the end of Chapter 17, the narrator writes that "[Bowman and Poole] were too intelligent…to quarrel." This seemingly innocent statement ties together some of the important themes of 2001. Toward the end of Book One, the narrator comments on the nuclear weapons in the world, lamenting that man had used his intelligence to create weapons of mass destruction. This is one of the instances of man misusing his intelligence or acting unintelligent, in spite of his intelligence. One of the global messages 2001 is meant to convey is encapsulated in the seemingly innocuous statement with which this paragraph begins—man, when he is being truly intelligent, will not quarrel.
As the journey progresses, we see the human toll it takes on Bowman and Poole. Early on, they cease communicating with female companions they have left behind. Later, as they are nearing Jupiter, they are temporarily cut off from communication with earth. Even though hundreds of millions of miles away, Bowman and Poole feel attached to earth and, with nothing else with which to communicate, they are lonely at the prospect of not being able to communicate with earth, even if they wouldn't have been communicating during that time.
Parts Three and Four
Summary
Poole watches a video transmission of his family and friends gathered to sing him Happy Birthday. He finds it strange, knowing that the events he is watching took place over an hour before, as it now takes longer than an hour for light beams from Earth to reach Discovery. Hal interrupts to let Poole know that the AE-35 component of the ship may malfunction within seventy- two hours and to recommend making a trip outside the ship to replace it with a spare. Poole radios to Earth to inform them of his plans. The control center confirms and asks him to prepare a brief statement to be released to the media. Poole and Bowman make a brief videotape explaining that the AE-35 keeps the ship's antenna fixed on earth to allow for radio transmissions and that replacing it should be a routine operation.
Poole carefully dons a pressure suit and boards one of the extravehicular capsules in order to step outside the ship and replace the defective part. After careful manipulation and much patience, he successfully replaces the part and returns to Discovery.
Unfortunately, not all was well. Bowman ran diagnostic tests on the AE-35 unit that Poole had replaced and reports to Poole that it is actually fully functional. Before they resolve how to handle the situation, a transmission from Earth arrives. Mission Control confirms that the AE-35 they replaced is fully functional and suggests that the problem may lie in Hal. They are to monitor Hal closely for further odd behavior. At worst, they will have to shut down Hal and hand over monitoring control of the ship to the computers at Mission Control.
Soon after, Hal reports that the newly installed AE-35 is set to fail within twenty-four hours. Bowman, who is in control of the ship at this time, asks Hal how this is possible. Hal responds that he is unsure why the unit is faulty, but certain that he is correct about the impending malfunction. Hours later, they receive a video transmission from the chief programmer at mission control. He says that Hal is incorrect about the AE-35 unit; Hal is malfunctioning and ship control must be handed over to the computers on Earth. The programmer begins outlining the steps whereby Poole and Bowman are to shut down Hal when his voice ceases to be transmitted. An alert signal sounds and Hal reports that the AE-35 unit has failed. Bowman apologizes to Hal for suspecting that he had been wrong and Hal asks if Bowman once again has complete confidence in him. Bowman assures him that he does and then sets about trying to manually fix the antenna on Earth. This fails and the two men are left wondering how to re-establish contact with Earth.
Analysis
The narrator gives a lengthy description of Poole, as he is replacing the AE-35 unit. His maneuvering of Betty (the extravehicular unit), stepping outside of Betty, and carefully performing the replacement are reported to us in the minutest detail. This serves two purposes. First, this scene allows us to step into Poole's world—to gain a better understanding of what it is like to be an astronaut, nearly a billion miles from home. Second, this scene more closely introduces us to the perils of space travel and the potential for danger in the Discovery mission. An awareness of the complexities involved in even the most mundane action and the potential destructiveness of the smallest mistake lay the foundations for the reader to fully appreciate the magnitude of Hal's later malfunctioning.
In a work of science fiction, the importance of giving the reader enough detail should not be underestimated. In entering a highly fictionalized world, the reader needs more detail to feel at home and comfotable. After all, we cannot make the same assumptions about this world as we would make in reading a story set in contemporary America. Clarke makes his world seem more natural not simply by giving us details about it, but also in keeping those details not too detached from reality. First, he pays impeccable attention to the laws of physics, the same physical law that constrains us constrains the humans of 2001. Second, the central fictionalized elements of the book—Hal and Discovery—are merely improvements upon technology that existed when the book was written. It is not quite as difficult for the reader to imagine technologies that are already in the world in a more basic form.
In Chapter 24, Hal starts to exhibit more human characteristics. First, he begins to preface some of his statements with an "electronic throat clearing." In telling Bowman that the AE-35 has malfunctioned again, he begins "Er…" as if he were feeling sheepish in needing to convey the unpleasant news. Further, once the Ae-35 unit fails, Hal seems to require the coddling of a once offended human. First, he reports not simply that the unit failed, but that "the AE-35 unit has failed, as I predicted." Hal seems to be gloating about having made a correct diagnosis, whose accuracy Poole and Bowman questioned. Second, Hal asks Bowman, "is your confidence in me fully restored?" Once again, Hal seems like a person, seeking external validation. These decidedly human quirks are deviations from Hal's expected efficient and emotion-less behavior
Part Four (Chapters 25–30)
Summary
Poole heads out of Discovery to bring the defective AE-35 unit back aboard and examine it. He once again takes Betty outside, leaves her about twenty feet from the ship and maneuvers toward the location of the problem. Poole, needing more light, asks Hal to maneuver the lighting from the Pod. Hal performs this request but Bowman is unsettled. He notices that Hal did not, according to his normal protocol, acknowledge the request. Then, Poole notices Betty moving slowly toward him. He screams for Hal to apply full braking to Betty, but it is too late. Inside, Bowman hears Poole's final scream and frantically calls for him over the radio. He notices that Poole's spacesuit has come undone; after a few minutes, the cold reality of Poole's death begins to set in.
Other than Poole's absence, the ship seemed the same. Bowman walks around, trying to figure out how to respond. Hal expresses his regrets at Poole's death. Bowman responds, but is wondering—did Hal kill Poole? He has a hard time fathoming how this could have happened. In the event that a crewmember died, another member was to be taken out of hibernation to replace him. Bowman asks Hal to give him manual control over each hibernaculum, each unit in which one of the astronauts is hibernating. Hal tries to convince Bowman to let him take care of the de-hibernation process. Bowman finally wins the argument by threatening to disconnect Hal. Bowman goes to the hibernacula and begins the process of awakening his long sleeping shipmates. As they are beginning to awaken, Bowman hears the airlock doors of the ship opening.
The real purpose of the mission was known only to the three hibernating astronauts, and to Hal. The planners of the trip had decided it would be best for Poole and Bowman to be kept in the dark. This had begun to cause an internal tension for Hal and he was forced to conceal the truth from Poole and Bowman. This tension began to reveal itself in minor errors. All would have been all right had Hal not been threatened with being disconnected. To Hal, having the inputs that created his consciousness disconnected was a fate tantamount to death. He would battle to keep this from happening and, if necessary, complete the mission without human accompaniment.
Air was flowing out of the ship. With the doors opened, the inside of the ship was quickly becoming a vacuum. Bowman, knowing that he had only a few seconds to survive, found his way to a sealed room labeled "Emergency Shelter" and breathed in from an emergency supply of oxygen. Bowman makes his way down to the innards of the ship, passing by the three formerly frozen, but now dead astronauts. He finds Hal's control panels and begins to disconnect the various inputs that make Hal conscious. Hal pleads with Bowman to stop, but he finishes to job and Hal has been fully disconnected.
The ship begins to return to normal; Bowman closes the airlock doors and, without Hal interfering, the satellite points toward Earth again. Bowman sends a message to inform the crew back home about what has happened. When he receives his response, Bowman could not be more surprised. Mission control reveals to him the true purpose of the mission. He learns about TMA-1 and that scientists are certain that intelligent life planted the dark slab on the moon over three million years ago. When the slab, exposed to sunlight for the first time, emitted waves, the waves moved toward Saturn. One of Saturn's moons, Japetus is six times brighter on one side of its orbit than another. No adequate scientific explanation of this phenomenon has been given. Bowman is to go to Japetus and to try to learn about this other intelligence. No one knows whether they still exist and, if they do, whether they are friendly or hostile. This mission is, then, potentially vital to the continued survival of humanity.
Analysis
In Chapter 26, after Poole has been killed, the narrator describes Bowman's stream of thought: "It was beyond all reason that Hal, who had performed flawlessly for so long, should suddenly turn assassin." Bowman is completely shocked at what he is slowly coming to realize that Hal had deliberately killed Poole. Because Hal had been programmed to act in a certain way, and killing crewmembers was definitely not a part of this programming, Bowman finds it incredible that he could have done the unthinkable. He wonders how Hal could have developed an intention to kill. In reacting as such, Bowman is revealing his deeply held belief that man has control over the technology he creates. This scene makes the reader wonder, like Bowman, the degree to which humans really do have control over the technology that they produce. One of the primary messages of this book is that we do not have as much control over our technology as we like to think, that the technology we produced for one productive purpose can turn horribly productive. Specifically, the book takes aim at nuclear weaponry. Then, Hal is to be seen as a metaphor for nuclear weapons, while this scene is meant to get the reader to be suspicious of nuclear weaponry, just as Bowman is suspicious of Hal.
The conscious process, even the one fictionally created in scientific laboratories, is too complex to fully understand. Therein lies the mystery of Hal's disturbance. Humans had created this artificial consciousness to perform the functions of a human being, but quicker, flawlessly, and without the need for sleep, food, or companionship. Yet, they had also given it the ability to learn and develop. It could not be fully predicted what Hal would learn and how he would develop. As the book progresses, Hal develops human traits. He ceases to be an entirely logical machine and begins to develop emotions and feelings, such as fear of being shut off. Man was unable to separate the purely logical parts of human consciousness in Hal, the artificially conscious being.
Part Five
Summary
Bowman had to restore the ship back to working condition. He cleaned the ship and, on his own, had to make sure all the systems were properly functioning. As things returned to normal, Bowman had time to think in detail about the reports that had been sent to him outlining the discovery of extra- terrestrial, intelligent life and the purpose of the mission. He slowly began to accept the theory that Hal had collapsed under the pressure of mounting unconscious feelings of guilt, prompted by internal conflict. As the days past and Saturn approached, though, Bowman began to look ahead.
Speculation abounded as to the nature of these extraterrestrial beings (E.T.s) and their origin. Some argued that they could not have come from outside the solar system because it would take too long to get there from any of the surrounding stars, while others argued that they might be able to travel through "wormholes" and circumvent the laws of physics, as the are currently known to man. It was wondered how long man would have before this civilization returned. If the waves sent out by the slab on the moon had been a signal, when would the E.T.s get that signal and when would they come to earth.
In the months that passed, Bowman would do all he could to maintain a normal schedule. He wanted to keep himself as sane as possible, knowing the potential significance of his job as the ambassador for the human species.
Bowman was now nearing Saturn and began passing by her moons. Discovery was to slow down and become a moon of Saturn, passing through the orbit of, and ultimately rendezvousing with Japetus. The meeting with Japetus was fourteen days hence and Bowman knew that, were he to fail to make it to Japetus at this time, he would be long dead by the time the orbit of Discovery crossed again near Japetus. As the day neared, Bowman completed the final necessary maneuvers and Discovery began to orbit around Japetus. Bowman had noticed a big black spot on Japetus. Passing near it, he saw that it was a large black slab at least a mile high—it was "TMA-1's big brother."
For three million years, this "Star Gate" had been on Japetus, waiting to be discovered. It was left behind as part of an experiment conducted by this extra- terrestrial civilization. The originators of the experiment had traveled the universe, trying to encourage the development of life wherever they found it. As they had an entire Universe to explore and cultivate, they could not stay around Earth and watch to see what developed. Earth was only one of many worlds on which they had attempted to push along the evolutionary process. These beings had, themselves, long evolved. First, they had outgrown their bodies of flesh and, having learned to store their brains in machines of metal and plastic. Ultimately, they learned to store their thoughts in light and freed themselves from all matter and time.
Bowman decided to attempt to take one of the extravehicular pods and land on the Star Gate in order to explore it further. He sent out signals to the Star Gate, but it made no response. As Discovery began to descend to it, though, the Star Gate began to follow orders that it had long ago received.
Bowman anxiously waited as Discovery moved closer to the Star Gate. It had still not changed at all—Bowman saw no way in. As he passed over it, it began to appear as if receding. The last sentence he communicated to mission control was "The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God!—it's full of stars!" The Star Gate opened and closed and disappeared from Japetus.
Analysis
In Chapter 31, Bowman is reflecting on the political reasons for which the real purpose of the Discovery mission was kept secret. "From his present viewpoint," the narrator tells us, "looking back on Earth as a dim star almost lost in the Sun, such considerations now seemed ludicrously parochial." Bowman's universe has expanded tremendously. With the knowledge that extra-terrestrial intelligence once existed, he comes to see the squabbles of humans as less significant. Once humans are no longer unique in being intelligent beings, human interactions can no longer be viewed with the same cosmic significance. The discovery of intelligent life, and especially intelligent life that precedes humans could be expected to have effects much like the Copernican Revolution. Man's view of his own importance declined when he discovered that he was not at the center of the Universe, that the physical world had not been created around him. In much the same way, the discovery that other intelligent life preceded man would upset humanity's conception of itself as special, in being the most intelligent living thing in the Universe. Man would become just another of the intelligent civilizations that once existed—stripped of the distinction of interacting with the universe in a special way that no others had.
As Bowman approaches Japetus, he realizes that he has no hope of surviving the mission and he will never return to Earth. Rather than bemoan his fate, however, Bowman is excited about the exploration that lies in front of him. His perspective on the entire world has been radically shifted by his knowledge of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Much as matters of the Earth seem insignificant, even his own life is not that important. A true explorer, his curiosity about this unknown civilization is enough to sustain him. He is genuinely excited to explore the Star Gate, even though he believes that he will soon die.
Part Six (Chapters 41–47)
Summary
Stars were rushing past Bowman's field of vision as if he were moving incredibly quickly, but the end of the Star Gate never seemed closer. The digital clock onboard had slowed down and eventually come to a halt. Bowman could not tell how quickly he was moving or what would happen, but he felt an extreme calmness as this adventure approached him. Then, Bowman perceived a growing aperture at the end of this intergalactic tunnel; he passed through it into a vast world, filled with an intricate network of buildings on the ground. The sky above him appeared white, with little black specks. It seemed as though this were an inverted world with a white sky and black stars. Bowman looked around, but soon his pod was being heralded back through one of the black specks, "he was passing through a Grand central Station of the Galaxy."When Bowman was again released, he saw stars all around. He looked back and saw the opening from which he had come, being slowly replaced by stars, "as if a rent in the fabric of space had been repaired." Amazed, he gazed at the many wonders that filled the sky before him; then his pod began to descend toward a giant, red, sun. As he moved toward the star, Bowman noticed that he was not affected by what must have been an immense heat. The speeds at which he had been traveling should have torn him apart, as well. He felt, and was, guarded and protected. Through the rising flames, Bowman saw what looked like thousands of beads. Though he did not understand it, Bowman was going through a new type of creation of which no man had ever conceived. The pod came to rest on a floor of what appeared to be a nice hotel suite. As Bowman looked around, all of the normal accoutrements of home surrounded him, from a bed and chairs to familiar artwork; only his pod was out of place. He explored the suite to find a refrigerator and familiar looking boxes of food. Inside the boxes, though, was only blue goo that resembled a pudding. Bowman tasted it and it was reasonably good. The books in the suite had recognizable titles, but were empty inside. Bowman lay on the bed and began to watch TV—the programs were old, about two years out of date. Bowman realized that the suite had been constructed on the basis of television programs, used to gain information about what would make a normal human feel more at ease. Tired, Bowman extinguished the light and went to sleep for the last time.
Bowman felt himself drifting off. He began to enter a realm where no man had gone before. His memory of the hotel suite flickered before him, then the Star Gate, and Discovery. His memory was being drained from his brain, but stored elsewhere. David Bowman was being reborn, but this time, immortal. Arrays of light and shape appeared before him and he saw that he would no longer need the Star Gate to travel through space. Incredible, new knowledge was coming before him. He felt like he was being watched over and protected, and knew that he would never be alone.
Before him, Bowman saw Earth, "a glittering toy no Star-Child could resist." Down there, alarms would be ringing and, the history man had known, would be coming to an end. A payload of destruction had been released and was slowly making its way across the sky. This was no match for Bowman's strength and he detonated the megatons while still in the air. He reflected on his powers as master of the world, and that he would have to decide what to do next.
Analysis
The end of the book is a bit tricky. Bowman is granted the gift of the technology that the civilization that built TMA-1 had come upon. He is immortalized, turned into energy, and given immense powers to move and impact the physical world simply through an action of his will. He returns to look at Earth.
The writing of the final chapter is metaphorical and a bit obscure. The "slumbering cargo of death" is a nuclear weapon. Bowman has returned to see Earth, just as a nuclear weapon is being released. Instead of allowing it to fall back to Earth and wreak massive destruction, Bowman detonates the weapon in the air. This produces the "false dawn."
This final event brings the book back to its central didactic theme. Just as nuclear weapons are mentioned as a potential danger toward the end of the first part of the book, they are presented as a grave danger that finally is realized in this final scene of the book. Luckily for those on Earth, the Star-Child is there to keep the nuclear weapons from actually descending to Earth and causing destruction. In the real world, there is no omnipotent force that we could reasonably expect to diffuse a nuclear warhead flying through the air toward a target. While the end of this book presents a hopeful scenario, in that the world is not destroyed by nuclear weapons, it paints a grim picture. After all, nuclear weapons are released. And, in our world, once the weapons are launched, the destruction will take place. This final scene, then, emphasizes the warning that this book is intended to convey. We are teetering at the edge of a nuclear catastrophe. We must do everything in our power to ensure that one does not occur.
Important Quotations Explained
The spear, the bow, the gun, and finally the guided missile had given him weapons of infinite range and all but infinite power. Without those weapons, often though he had used them against himself, Man would never have conquered his world. Into them he had put his heart and soul, and for ages they had served him well. But now, as long as they existed, he was living on borrowed time.
Explanation for Quotation 1 >>
This passage appears at the end of Part One of 2001, as the narrator concludes his story of the evolution of man to his present state. Foremost, it is the first mention of one of the major themes of the book—the destructive potential of nuclear weapons. Inasmuch as the central story line does not explicitly mention nuclear weapons, this mention is one of the critical passages that alert us to the author's concern with weapons of mass destruction. This passage is also interesting in illustrating the unclear phenomenon in an evolutionary context. Nuclear weapons are conceived, not as an independent invention, or in relation to the study of physics that produced them, but rather as an advanced weapon that comes as part of a long chain of human tools and weapons developed over millennia. By placing nuclear weapons in this context, the author acknowledges that such weapons were not made in order to be destructive and, further, that man generally had good reasons for making weapons. The potential negative side effect of nuclear weapons, however, was too great to be ignored.
Even now, he could not fully accept the idea that Frank had been deliberately killed—it was so utterly irrational. It was beyond all reason that Hal, who had performed flawlessly for so long, should suddenly turn assassin.
Explanation for Quotation 2 >>
Here, Bowman first seriously faces the possibility that Hal could have become a murderer. The notion is so foreign to him, because Hal has been programmed to behave in a certain way and he had been functioning properly. Bowman is legitimately shocked to discover that the technology aboard the ship does not fully function, and that Hal's inner workings had not been fully understood, and he could malfunction. Bowman thinks that it is crazy that this computer program should develop a mind of its own and plot to commit actions unthinkable to its creators.
The stars were thinning out; the glare of the Milky Way was dimming into a pale ghost of the glory he had known—and, when he was ready, would know again. He was back, precisely where he wished to be, in the space that men called real.
Explanation for Quotation 3 >>
This passage comes at the end of Bowman's transformation to a Star-Child. He is made immortal and led back to the part of the universe he had originally inhabited, to face the world from an entirely different perspective. The end of this passage emphasizes the breadth of the universe as compared to man's knowledge of it. Bowman has been brought back to "the space that men called real," not the space that is real, since as he and the reader know, Bowman has been through far more than men know of or could acknowledge exists.
Key Facts full title · 2001: A Space Odyssey author · Arthur C. Clarke type of work · Novel genre · Science Fiction language · English time and place written · 1960s, U.S. date of first publication · 1968 publisher · New American Library narrator · Omniscient climax · Bowman thwarts Hal's attempt to rid Discovery of human life protagonist · David Bowman antagonist · Hal setting (time) · 2001 setting (place) · Earth, the Moon, a Spaceship point of view · Omniscient narrator who tells of disparate events spanning the universe falling action · Bowman is swallowed by the Star Gate tense · Past foreshadowing · The destructive potential of nuclear weapons at the end of part one, Hal eventually trying to run the ship alone (end of Chapter Sixteen), the challenges to face the crew during the voyage (end of Chapter Seventeen), virtually countless others—they are everywhere. tone · Detached and scientific themes · The Perils of Technology, Evolution, Space Exploration motifs · Omniscient Narration, The Accouterments of Space Travel, Technological Malfunctions symbols · Hal