Transcript If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth…” - Iroquois Central School

“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth…”
By Arthur Clarke
Setting:
Time: Future; 1 day
Place: The Moon
P.D.: Multi-level space colony 250,000
miles from Earth. Inside a plastic dome,
fierce sun, jet black sky. Moonscape:
“jumbled wasteland of craters, mountains,
ravines”
Plot:
 When he is ten, Marvin’s father takes him
outside for the first time for a long trip across the
moon.
 Marvin sees Earth and feels a pull toward the
planet (homesick.)
 His father talks of nuclear pollution and
reinforces the dream of returning to Earth in
some future generation.
 Marvin prepares to take part in keeping that
dream alive.
Characterization:
 Marvin
 Ten years old
 Lives in a dome on the moon
 Earth calls to his heart – the sight of it awakens in him desire to
know colors, sea, rain, snow…
 Causes him to feel the “anguish of exile” = he understands why
his father brought him here  to learn the dream (goal) of
reclaiming the Earth.
 Marvin’s father
 “Drives with a reckless and exhilarating skill as if…trying to
escape from something.”
 Takes son on a pilgrimage to see the Earth to pass on the goal
of reclaiming it in some later generation.
 Views pilgrimage as a rite of passage for his son.
Conflict:
1. Man vs. Self
The men vs. their dream
The Earthmen on the moon colony vs. the need
for a future goal
Having the dream to return to Earth some day
gives the men strength to carry on and look
forward to the future.
Man vs. Nature
The men vs. nuclear war/pollution
The Earthmen cannot return home
Theme:
 A goal gives people reason to live
 Our actions on Earth will have consequences for
humanity and our planet
 Men carry future of the race
“But unless there was a goal, a future toward which it
could work, the colony would lose the will to live, and
neither skill nor science nor machines could save it
then.”
 A boy’s growth into manhood
Rite of passage
Learning of the dream and the role he will play
Literary Elements & Techniques
Point of View – 3rd person omnicient
Foreshadowing – the sky is black; the
stars do not twinkle
Allusion
#1 – the title refers to psalm 137 in the Bible
#2 – Armageddon (explained on pg 160.)
The final battle between good and evil.