Essay Questions

Explain the significance of the title.

The phrase "If I Forget Thee, O Earth..." is a reference to Psalm 137:5, which says, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgot." The psalmist is remembering a dark time in Israel's history when it was conquered by the hostile nation of Babylon and subjected to a long period of captivity. The Israelites must have looked at their destroyed Jerusalem in much the same way as the Colonists look back at their ravaged Earth (destroyed by the horrible effects of atomic weapons), and a similar lamentation pours from the mouths of both groups. The prayer is that they do not forget their homelands, and never cease in their efforts to keep and regain it, both in their hearts and in physical reality.

How does the theme of nuclear apocalypse reflect the sentiments of Clarke's time?

Arthur C. Clarke wrote this story in 1951, six years after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The horrifying power exhibited in these weapons caused mass panic: humanity now had the capability to single-handedly drive itself into extinction. Accordingly, representations of this terrifying potential future permeated the public and literary spheres, and this story is just one example of many from the time period. Like many others, however, Clarke's take is not entirely hopeless; he notes the beauty of life and the resilience of humanity, but these positive points are overshadowed by the looming specter of nuclear war.