The Star

For this week I read The Star by Arthur C Clarke from 1956. One thing that I found interesting about this short story that I believe to be a theme in other pieces of the genre, is the acknowledgment of existential crisis. Everyone that is alive, thinks about how and when they will die. This usually is in accordance with "deep" thinking, outside of what we perceive and think of every day. This can and usually includes thinking about space and other civilizations beyond our own. This comes up in The Star as well. Although, in this situation, all of these mere speculations are true and can be seen through the character's eyes. We see that there is proof of other civilizations when they discover the monolith left behind by beings from another planet. We also are a part of the main character's thinking, in which he questions existence as well as his faith in God. We see that this scientist, astronomer, has a hard time separating scientific facts and proof with the belief in God. He even mentions getting harassed in a way for his beliefs, as most of the other scientists are notoriously atheists. "He who built the universe can destroy it when He chooses," is an example of how he shows his faith, but still questions why a God would choose to do it. This creates a really interesting dynamic. I really enjoyed how this short story brings up the topic of existence and death in a realistic way, which is surprising because of the time period that this was released. I wonder if it was a radical idea of thinking about existence outside of God during the '50s, as it was much more common to be religious during this time. Overall I enjoyed this short read and would be more interested to find a series of stories this length in this genre.