Previous
Tone
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Bowman's "Memories":
In Chapter 15 of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the novel flashes back to David Bowman’s life on Earth as he trained to be an astronaut at Houston Space Center. However, in a prolonged moment of unreliable narration, the narrator makes it seem as if Bowman’s experience happens in the narrative present:
He awoke, and it seemed that he had scarcely closed his eyes. But he knew that was an allusion; somehow, he was convinced that years had really passed. Had the mission been completed? Had they already reached Saturn, carried out their survey, and gone into hibernation? [...] He felt quite contented, in a dazed, stupid kind of way [...] Presently he felt hunger. The computer, of course, had anticipated this need. [...] When he left the Hibernaculum, he would not see the cold Saturnian sky; that was more than a year in the future and a billion miles away. He was still in the trainer at the Houston Space Flight Center under the hot Texas sun.
In this passage, the narrator provides several false context clues to make it seem as though Bowman wakes up in the narrative's present. Throughout the novel thus far, Bowman has indeed been engaged in a space mission headed for Saturn. "The computer" to which the narrator refers could be Hal, for Hal's computer system harbors enough artificial intelligence to create a human-like sense of awareness and emotion. Additionally, the use of the word "presently" indicates that this moment is not a flashback, but—as the narrator later reveals—it is. In this memory, Bowman wakes up on Earth, having sat through a space simulation to prepare him for the real mission.
Although the narrator reveals themselves at the end of the passage to have been falsely portraying Bowman’s memories as having taken place in the present, the presence of unreliable narration is significant. Even on Earth, Bowman’s thoughts are similar to what he experiences in space. The disorientation he feels in the simulator mirrors the real disorientation felt in outer space. Because this flashback passage appears at the middle of the novel—and readers have already followed the narration of Bowman in space—this false memory may not appear truly false at first glance. The use of unreliable narration is thus a clever way to portray the ways in which spaceflight affects the human psyche of characters throughout 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Related Themes:
