This novel is very strange. The book begins in pre-historic times, telling

about the man-ape's experience with the monoliths in Africa, and suddenly

jumps to the space age people and their experience with the monoliths on the

moon. The book is packed with a lot of themes, such as: "No matter how

good you are, there is always something better", and "You can't sacrifice the

reliability of the human mind for a machine".

The first theme, "No matter how good you are, there is always something

better", is first symbolized in the first section of the novel. When the reader

is first introduced to the man-apes, they are slow-thinking, docile creatures

who can't remember anything for more than a few minutes. After the

introduction of the first monolith, and it's mind control over Moon-Watcher

and his tribe, the man-apes begin to display more intelligence and know-how.

They are taught how to make and use tools, and how to hunt and kill animals,

both for nourishment and defense. This teaching sets the stage for evolution

and brings the reader to the space age. In the sixth and final section of the

book, the theme is symbolized again. Astronaut David Bowman discovers

another monolith on one of Saturn's moons, Japetus. Upon venturing into

the structure, he is transformed into a being of no physical body, free to roam

the galaxy.

The other theme, "You can't sacrifice the reliability of the human mind

for a machine", comes across in the betrayal of the ship, Discovery's,

onboard computer, HAL 9000. This is also and example of irony, because

something that was supposed to be a convince for five humans, ended up

being a major burden for one human by murdering the other four.

Something else ironic is that the creatures who created the monoliths were

extremely more advanced than the humans. After a while, the humans

reached the same level as the as the E.T.s and eventually out-evolved the

same beings that got them to that level.

The author, Arthur C. Clarke's writing style is a little hard to comprehend.

A lot of totally useless information was given and most had no impact on the

story, such as his description of the moons of Saturn. A lot of the book is

just filler to give it a better look and sound more educated. Another part that

is needless, is the character of Dr. Heywood Floyd. He is only included in

one section of the novel, and his part in the story could have just as easily

been told without any dialog and character background information to

distract the reader from the real story.

Even though the novel is a little strange and sometimes difficult to

understand, it is an interesting story. The ending is also abrupt and very

complicated.