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New Athens
The Freedom League operates as a minor symbol of human liberty, and its mere existence serves to demonstrate the degree to which humanity still values that liberty. In the initial decade or so after the Overlords arrive, when nearly every person alive remembers what it is like to live without them, the Freedom League operates to restore humanity’s autonomy and free will. Though the Freedom League does not represent the majority of human beings, its members are considerable in their number. The protests of the Freedom League revolve either around the fear that the Overlords will disrupt organized religion or the fear that the Overlords’ creation of a world-state will cause smaller cultures to lose their individuality.
Both of these fears are well-founded, and the Freedom League’s predictions come to pass. Despite its foresight, as the years draw on under the Overlords’ rule the Freedom League gradually loses its influence and withers away. The death of the Freedom League, inconsequential to most, signals that humanity ultimately prefers the peace and prosperity that the Overlords have brought to Earth over the traditions, cultures, religions, and comparative freedom that the Overlords have passively destroyed. The dissolution of the Freedom League reveals that human liberty has become a memory of a bygone age, and that most of humanity does not seem to care that it has been lost.
The Freedom League Quotes in Childhood’s End
The Childhood’s End quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Freedom League. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
“Can you deny that the Overlords have brought security, peace, and prosperity to the world?”
“That is true, but they have taken our liberty. Man does not live—”
“—by bread alone. Yes, I know—but this is the first age in which every man was sure of getting even that.”
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Chapter 3
Quotes
“I can understand your fear that the traditions and cultures of little countries will be overwhelmed when the world state arrives. But you are wrong: it is useless to cling to the past. Even before the Overlords came to Earth, the sovereign state was dying. They have merely hastened its end.”
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Get the entire Childhood’s End LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Freedom League Symbol Timeline in Childhood’s End
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Freedom League appears in Childhood’s End. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...assistant, Pieter Van Ryberg, enters the room to tell him that Alexander Wainwright, leader of the Freedom League , will be there for their scheduled meeting any minute now, and a procession of...
(full context)
...initiated Wainwright and Stormgren’s meeting. Stormgren does not understand why Karellen asked to meet with the Freedom League , but he trusts that it is part of Karellen’s plans.
(full context)
...Wainwright replies that they are worried about the idea of worldwide-government itself. Rather, what disturbs the Freedom League is that this government is being created by the Overlords, rather than being created and...
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Stormgren knows that the heart of the matter is that he trusts Karellen while the Freedom League does not. He challenges Wainwright to deny that the Overlords have made everyone on Earth...
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...knows it will not change anything. Wainwright adds one final thought: more than their control, the Freedom League detests the Overlords’ secrecy, since not even Stormgren, the only human to speak with Karellen...
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Karellen points out that the real source of the Freedom League ’s distrust is the fear that the Overlords’ presence will make religion obsolete, even though...
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...to suspect that the Overlords, too, answer to a higher power. Van Ryberg agrees with the Freedom League : the Overlords ought to show themselves.
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Chapter 3
...obsessed with the Overlords’ secrecy. His obsession was not only due to the resistance that the Freedom League and other groups had to being ruled by someone they could not see. Stormgren saw...
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...world against the Overlords suddenly cease, as humanity realizes it has lost its only spokesperson. The Freedom League declares its innocence in the matter.
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Chapter 4
Stormgren reads an early release of Karellen’s pronouncement to the head of the Freedom League . Wainwright is disappointed and bitter, knowing that in fifty years, anyone who can remember...
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During Stormgren’s next meeting with Karellen, Karellen is explaining that the Freedom League will be even more hindered when Stormgren retires, as Karellen does not plan to find...
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