Star By Arthur Clark Essay, Research Paper

This science fiction story called ?The Star? has many religious and

spiritual overtones which makes the theme of the story ?There always has to be

one to save all? more obvious. From the first to the last sentence the theme

was built throughout to be a parallel experience of what has happened to the

people before the great flood. Like many great science fiction stories this one

shares a great message of hope in the unknown and to be glad that we have been

so lucky to survive whatever we were supposed to have survived. This story was

written in the late 1970?s because of the reference to the Mark VI computer.

In the first paragraph there is brief indication of religious symbols such as

three thousand light years to the Vatican and Crucifix. The first of the two

symbols I point out is the reference of their time in accordance to our time.

The setting of this story takes place three Thousand light years to the Vatican.

The great distance these travelers have to travel before they reach the greatest

holy place for Catholics will happen three thousand light years. Take away the

word light years and you are left with three thousand years which in this

instance shows not only how far they are from their spiritual guidance but their

distance their personal distance from God. The word crucifix means as it is used

in the context of hope that the Catholic doctrines which most of the crew once

believed in no longer rings true for them because they?ve seen so many

merciless acts of destruction on the part of God that they ended up thinking he

never existed for if he did exists they pose the question, ?then why did he

allow this to happen??. The narrator of this story is a priest or spiritual

advisor who helps the crew of this ship whose mission it is to see how the

universe was created to make sure their moral stays up so they will not commit

suicide. He too like many of his fellow crewmates questions God role in the

universe. The role many religions play in today?s society is to give hope to

those people who have nothing to look forward to. Because of democratic change

in the world?s political landscape and the practice of many of these religious

groups catering to the whims of their followers by tell them the things they

want to hear. For instance no one wants to hear that there will only be certain

number of people who will be saved in God?s second coming. They want to think

that God will save us all and all we have to do is believe that he exists and do

good works. The experience of these travelers can be likened to the post war

trauma of soldiers. They come out of the mission holding a very cynical view of

the world and in the process lead a life of pure pessimism, which can lead to

suicide and many other unusual acts of violence. The find of a new planet where

it?s inhabitants left a visual record of their existence before surrendering

to their forthcoming demise seemed very troubling to the crew. The past

inhabitants chronicled their life in a time capsule. They witnessed a kind of

people, which enjoyed the same atmosphere as their own back on earth but unlike

them they knew of their black fate before it happened as it was shown through

their drawings. The reader is left with a sense of injustice because he is so

enraged by what happened to the people of this former planet that it makes the

reader see the true irony in this story. That being the people of this world

back in the ancient times looked to a savior named Jesus to save them from the

impending judgment. The flood that drowned many of earth?s first dwellers was

drowned for no reason than to replenish the earth of all evil people. But even

back then to the people that suffered through all the death and destruction of

the flood it didn?t make any sense for they too lost many love ones who they

mourned deeply about after the great flood. Like the people back then we too

have no hope in a savior. And that is ironic for it says in the bible that only

God?s people will be saved. It?s ridiculous to realize that we all still

think that includes us.