Genre
Science Fiction
Setting and Context
Set in the 2130s within the solar system.
Narrator and Point of View
It is narrated in third person from the perspective of the omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
Menacing, Grand, Straightforward
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the commander of the spaceship Bill Norton while the antagonist is the unknown floating object dubbed Rama.
Major Conflict
The space object named Rama enters the solar system prompting scientists and explorers to seek answers through studying it. The expedition encounters several difficulties as they adjust to the harsh conditions in space while working. They try to unlock the mystery behind the arrival of the object but end up with more questions than answers.
Climax
The climax reaches when Laura finds a damaged creature and deduces that it is a hybrid with biological and robotic parts.
Foreshadowing
Pak’s previous failure as a skybike competitor foreshadows his crash on the southern continent of the Rama.
Understatement
“They would probably never even know that the human race existed; such monumental indifference was worse than any deliberate insult.”
Allusions
The narrative alludes to the idea of first contact and the human response to an alien object that has more mysteries than answers. It also makes historical allusions to humans embarking on space exploration to learn about the vastness of their universe.
Imagery
“Rama grew until it filled the screen. Its surface was a dull, drab grey, as colourless as the Moon, and completely devoid of markings except at one point. Halfway along the cylinder there was a kilometre-wide stain or smear, as if something had once hit and splattered, ages ago. There was no sign that the impact had done the slightest damage to Rama's spinning walls; but this mark had produced the slight fluctuation in brightness that had led to Stenton's discovery.”
Paradox
“An actual rendezvous was most unlikely; the energy cost would be far too great to permit physical contact with an object cutting across the orbits of the planets at more than a hundred thousand kilometres an hour.”
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“The beam of the searchlight slowly tracked along those distant towers”
Personification
Throughout the narrative, the scientists personify Rama the more they explore its content.
