62 pages • 2 hours read
Liu Cixin, Transl. Joel MartinsenThe Dark Forest
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
Eyes
The motif of eyes in The Dark Forest is the most significant symbol in the novel. It is a recurrent image evoked in the looks characters frequently exchange and also in the novel’s description of the world. Eyes are consistently used by the characters of the novel to glean information from others. They are expressive of the identities and secrets of humans, a characteristic which separates them from the Trisolarans, and which defines humanity in the novel. When Luo Ji awakens from hibernation, his immediate judgement of the people of this new time rests in his analysis of their eyes:
He was won over by their expressions, because he knew that the eyes of ordinary people were the best reflection of the level of civilization in a time and place (311).
The emotive function of these eyes informs Luo Ji that he has reached an advanced civilization. He sees love, curiosity, and wisdom in the people around him, aspects that he found lacking 200 years before.
Eyes are not just a reflection of inner characteristics in the novel, but a means of communication as well. Eyes and expressions are posited as a means of communication hidden from the Trisolaran sophons and this means of communication plays a role at important junctions of the narrative. On Natural Selection, Dongfang Yanxu and her vice-captains use only their eyes to discuss the possibility of destroying the other ships in their fleet for the purpose of survival: “All communication could be accomplished through the eyes […] their interlocking gazes [linked] their three souls together, communicating everything at high speed” (451). This communication of eyes is like a “meeting of minds,” virtually a state of telepathy. In creating a communication state which appears to break the boundaries of space-time and quantum physics with human bodies, rather than through technology, the novel highlights the power of humanity’s emotive abilities over its scientific potential. Throughout The Dark Forest, eyes represent mankind’s innate ability to communicate and build bonds emotionally, and this is presented as a defining feature of humanity in the novel.
The Sun
In The Dark Forest, the motif of the sun represents the hope of humanity. The images of the sun reference its life-giving principles and its longevity, necessary to the existence of Earth. It is a constant in the history of humanity and the planet. Its importance to the survival of life is so essential that Trisolaris is willing to undergo a 400-year journey and annihilate humans to harness its stable power. By creating a civilization with an unstable solar state, the novel highlights the remarkable nature of life on Earth and suggests, even were humans to find other life or inhabitable planets, it might be that Earth is one of the most superior locations for life in the universe.
The sun is shown as a uniting force across time and space, as the ray felt by the “first living cell was emitted by this same sun” that sustains the life of Luo Ji and all of human civilization (149). Although its value is what attracts Trisolaris, it also stands as Earth’s physical hope against the invasion, as its ability to amplify messages out into the universe becomes Luo Ji’s defense against the Trisolarans.
The spaceships built for the Space Fleet run on a fusion reaction, creating extremely bright light and heat. The light from this reaction is compared to a sun:
A small sun appeared in Jovian orbit, its bright light washing out the phosphorescence of the planet’s atmosphere. Dragging the sun behind it, the stellar-class warship Natural Selection eased out of the Asian Fleet base (386).
The imagery of the sun describes the power of the warship and comes to represent the hope that these starships carry for mankind, as metaphorical “lights in the darkness.” The fusion power of each ship preserves the life on board, just as the sun preserves life on Earth, highlighting the role of each ship as a micro-Earth in space. The fleet is constructed as the primary defense against the Trisolaran invasion and is presented as humanity’s most popular hope for survival. As each starship is destroyed and their engines extinguished, humanity sees its hopes extinguished, prefiguring the destruction of life on Earth when the Trisolarans invade.
The Droplet (Probe)
The probe sent by the Trisolar fleet, described as a droplet, is a symbol of the technological gap between the civilizations of humanity and Trisolaris. While the probe does eventually cause mass destruction in its attack on humanity’s starships, its appearance initially sparks trust and hope in the hearts of the world:
Not even in Plato’s Republic was there such a perfect shape: straighter than the straightest line, more circular than a perfect circle, a mirrored dolphin leaping out of the sea of dreams, a crystallization of all the love in the universe...Beauty is always paired with good, so if there really existed a demarcation between good and evil in the universe, this object would fall on the good side (402).
The perfection of the probe leads humanity to believe that it is a peace offering, as they believe nothing that looks so beautiful could come to hurt them. This illuminates a stark difference between the Trisolarans and humans. The probe as a “droplet” also seems designed to harness the imagery of water, as a life-giving force of nature second only to the sun. As a hard-wired symbol of sustenance and rejuvenation, the “droplet” inspires the trust of humanity. In Chinese philosophy, the ideogram for water also represents the meaning “source of life.”
The droplet-shaped probe is the starkest image of the disparity between the Trisolarans and humanity in The Dark Forest , as the only tangible and visible Trisolar technology to arrive on Earth. Once its power is apparent, humans perceive that “the droplet wasn’t fragile like a tear. Entirely the opposite: Its strength was a hundred times greater than the sturdiest material in the solar system” (416-17). The probe is a high-tech subatomic bullet, so sturdy, perfectly smooth, and compact that it can destroy the entire Space Fleet with its mass and speed. Its simple appearance both belies its power and complexity, and makes them more impressive
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