Stars (Symbol)
Stars symbolize dreams, hopes, something eternal and attracting that people always try to recognize or just observe. Marvin looks at them and don’t even think about the reality, as all his thoughts are kept by them. He gazed at them for a long time, asking himself why they are called twinkling, as they shine constantly:“…and there were the stars, as he had been told but had never quite believed. …anything could be so bright and yet so tiny”.
Radioactive aftermath of Armageddon (Symbol)
The radioactive aftermath of Armageddon is symbol of the inevitable (as it seemed to be at the time of writing the story) the global war that is to destroy the planet; it is also a symbol of destructive human actions (or lack of actions to prevent such events): “He was looking upon the funeral pyre of a world—upon the radioactive aftermath of Armageddon. Across a quarter of million miles of space, the glow of dying atoms was still visible, a perennial reminder of the ruinous past”.
Power of humanity (Allegory)
The forces that are the causes (political, social, military, and so on) of some real life occurrences could, paradoxically, occasion such destruction: “Nor could he comprehend the forces that had destroyed it in the end, leaving the Colony, preserved by its isolation, as the sole survivor”. All the people in such relations are the parts of these forces and they definitely will bring either positive or negative results.
Objects from the past (Motif)
The books, tales, ancient records, and photos from which Marvin knows some information about the life before the Colony —these elements reoccur a few times in context. They bring us to the main idea of work that our behavior in relation to our environment and our planet (including the ideas of social life) should be more thoughtful and deliberate, and any ambitions mustn’t be more significant that “all the wonders…the hues of sunset skies, the moaning of the sea on pebbled shores, the patter of falling rain”.Otherwise, the dismaying prediction may realize and the only experience sources will be the records preserved.
