Light from Uncommon Stars

The theme of The Influence of Parents on Children is a major focus of this section, especially with the fallout of Lan’s emotional distance from her children. Markus’s anger explodes in a violent attack against two human teenagers, triggered by his belief that the Empire and his father have been destroyed. Markus’s actions mirror many real-world cases of angry, despairing young men lashing out in violence. It is never entirely clear whether Markus has truly contracted the Endplague or just finally reached a breaking point due to his family’s situation. Ultimately, the distinction does not matter, as the result is the same. Lan had previously recognized troubling signs in Markus, but she failed to intervene before it was too late; as a result, two human teenagers are killed.

Shirley’s existential crisis is another issue that has been building over the previous chapters. Lan’s embarrassment about Shirley was first hinted at in Chapter 13, when she “tensed for Shizuka’s reaction” (111) after explaining to Shizuka what Shirley is. And in Chapter 14, when Katrina first meets Shirley, she immediately recognizes the same shame in Lan’s eyes that she used to see in her own parents’. A clear connection is drawn between Katrina’s transgender identity and Shirley’s non-biological identity, linking them together in the themes of Identity and the Struggle for Self-Acceptance and The Struggles of Refugees and Outsiders. When Lan first suggests duplicating Shirley, Aunty Floresta cautions that she should ensure Shirley is okay with it, demonstrating again that Aunty Floresta is much more in tune with her family’s emotional needs. It never occurs to Lan that Shirley would reject the idea because she does not think of Shirley as a fully realized person with her own individuality. Ironically, though she earlier told Shizuka that she could “never sacrifice a child—for any reason” (149), Lan is willing to install a destruct code in Shirley when she disobeys her. That Lan’s coldness toward Shirley likely stems from the trauma of her first child being stillborn is in keeping with the novel’s emphasis on human complexity. In a flashback in Chapter 17, Shirley recalls a moment from her infancy when she saw her parents: “Mother was afraid. Father was angry. He was yelling at her? Why? [...] She saw her mother crying as she switched her off, then on. Then off” (164). This flashback suggests that uploading Shirley’s neural network was likely her father’s idea, while Lan had conflicted feelings about it from the start. Lan’s emotional distance from Shirley is a defense mechanism, but it leaves Shirley doubting the validity of her own existence.

Katrina, who is uniquely able to relate to Shirley, taps into The Transformative Power of Music to bring Shirley back from the depths of existential despair. Katrina thinks, “Even Miss Satomi didn’t know how difficult it was when you didn’t feel real. Even Miss Satomi didn’t know how it felt when the only real thing genuine about you was the hurt your existence caused” (256). After this incident, Katrina and Shirley form a deep sisterly bond with one another. Meanwhile, Shizuka steps in to separate Lan from her daughter for Shirley’s own safety and forces Lan to reevaluate her attitude. Shizuka connects Lan’s attempt to duplicate Shirley to Lan’s failure with the donuts: “Your replicated donuts didn’t sell, did they? Funny, that. Your technology couldn’t even copy a donut, and now you’re saying you’ll copy Shirley?” (259). Lan has to admit that it would be difficult, even impossible, to replicate Shirley perfectly. Although Lan does not immediately change her views, she returns home deep in thought, foreshadowing The Inevitability of Change and Transition. Just as Lan had to reevaluate her understanding of Shizuka, of music, and of donuts, Lan must reevaluate her understanding of her own daughter.