Childhood's End: Analysis of Major Characters
"Childhood's End" is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke that explores the interactions between humanity and a benevolent alien race known as the Overlords. Key characters include Rikki Stormgren, the UN Secretary-General who serves as the primary liaison between humans and the Overlords, and Karellen, the enigmatic supervisor of Earth whose goal is to guide humanity toward a new cosmic evolution. Other significant figures include Jan Rodricks, a determined young scientist who stows away on an Overlord spaceship, and George and Jean Greggson, a couple who grapple with the loss of their children to the Overmind, a collective consciousness the Overlords help to nurture.
The novel delves into themes of cosmic oversight, the loss of individuality, and the evolution of human consciousness as children develop psychic powers that connect them to the Overmind. Characters like Alexander Wainwright and Joe represent opposing views on the Overlords' control, with Wainwright advocating for human freedom and Joe leading a resistance against what he perceives as subjugation. The story ultimately raises profound questions about the nature of progress, the sacrifices of humanity, and the future of intelligent life in the universe.
Childhood's End: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
First published: 1953
Genre: Novel
Locale: New York City, a Pacific island, and another planet
Plot: Science fiction
Time: The imagined 1950's and the twenty-first century
Rikki Stormgren, the secretary-general of the United Nations, a native of Finland. At the age of sixty, he is widowed with grown children. He devoted his keen mind and diplomatic talents to thirty-five years of public service before being selected by the Overlords as their only liaison with the human race. With a patience born of long experience (and adeptness at poker), he shares mutual trust and faith with the Overlord Karellen, even while kidnapped and held a short time by extremists on Earth. His cleverly arranged glimpse of Karellen does not satisfy his curiosity about the Overlords, and for the ensuing thirty years of his retirement he wonders about their purpose.
Karellen, the supervisor of Earth for the alien race called the Overlords. Immortal by human standards, he and his colleagues act as guardians of the colony Earth for the Overmind of the universe. His, and the Overlords', charge is to act as midwives in the birth and transformation of a new generation of cosmic minds for ultimate union with the Overmind. Mentally gifted but physically barren, they insist only on global justice and order; they act to end wars, South African apartheid, and cruelty to animals. the Overlords all seem to be identical, having the physical form of the legendary Devil and requiring sunglasses because the Earth's sunlight is brighter light than that of their own sun. His mission accomplished, Karellen leaves the dying Earth to visit the next nursery, always probing the mystery of the Overmind.
Jan Rodricks, a University of Cape Town graduate student in engineering physics. Of mixed black and Scottish blood, he is a twenty-seven-year-old romantic and accomplished pianist whose hopes to explore space are dashed by the arrival of the Overlords. Undaunted, he stows away aboard one of their starships, enabling him to visit their home planet and return with them to Earth. He has aged only six months, but the time dilation caused by relativity means that eighty years have passed on his own world. He remains on Earth, transmitting his impressions of the death throes of Earth to the Overlords as they speed away in their starships.
George Greggson, a television studio designer. Devoted to his profession as an art form, he emigrates to the artist colony of New Athens in the South Pacific with his wife of ten years, Jean Morrel, and their two children. Sporting fashionable sidewhiskers, he strives to maintain the spark of human creativity in spite of the cultural leveling influence of the Over-lords. Instead, he succumbs to their mission when his children become the first embryos of the new cosmic generation. His hopes dashed, he and his wife elect collective suicide with many of their fellow colonists in a nuclear blast.
Jean Morrel, a student and the mate of George Greggson. Individualistic like her husband, twenty-six years old, and platinum blonde, she enjoys dancing and the amenities of modern technological living. She is first Greggson's mate, then his “contracted” wife. Natural psychic powers lead her to a vague fear of the Overlords, who are alerted to them during an early paranormal séance. At New Athens, she endures antiquated housekeeping chores and avoids discussing paranormal matters until the truth becomes known that her own mind was a channel for the timeless knowledge of the universe that emerges in her children. Their loss to the Overmind drives her and her husband closer together than ever.
Jennifer Anne Greggson, the baby daughter of George and Jean. Referred to endearingly as “the Poppet” (a little doll), she does not grow beyond infancy before her mind awakens to the call of the Overmind. Confined thereafter to her cradle, at physical rest with her eyes closed, she has to be left alone while she develops her psychic powers, with which she satisfies her own personal needs. Like an earthly contagion, her powers link with the mind of her brother and then with those of all young children of Earth. Isolated from their elders by the Overlords, they collectively evolve until their ultimate mental and spiritual power enables them to join the Overmind in the universe and to destroy the Earth physically.
Jeffrey Angus Greggson, Jennifer's brother. A precocious but typical boy of seven, he is intelligent, artistic, and curious about science and the sea. Through dreams, he is the first earthling to be contacted by the Overmind but is bypassed in his evolution by his sister, because he had more acquired mortal habits to unlearn.
Rupert Boyce, a brilliant jungle veterinarian working in Africa. He is gregarious, tactless, and oft-married. A connoisseur of “paraphysics,” he lends his immense library on the subject to the Overlords, who therefore assist his veterinary work.
Alexander Wainwright, the head of the Freedom League. Originally a clergyman, he is tall, handsome, and in his late forties. With complete integrity, he admires the peace and prosperity made possible by the Overlords but labors to restore the freedom of choice and creativity they have taken from the human race. He fails.
Rashaverak, an Overlord and anthropologist. He tirelessly pores over Boyce's books on psychic matters to find explanations for mental breakthroughs.
Thanthalteresco, the Inspector, an Overlord. Typically inscrutable, he has an insatiable appetite for statistics in probing human behavior to help fathom cosmic knowledge.
Joe, an extremist opponent of the Overlords. Polish, about fifty years old, and weighing some 250 pounds, he belongs to the outlaw group that kidnaps Stormgren. A complex but honest man in the latter's view, he is conservative in his politics and frustrated by the seeming conquest by the Overlords. Once exposed by the Overlords, the activities of Joe and his colleagues are effectively compromised.