Childhood’s End

by

Arthur C. Clarke

Themes and Colors
Science and Mysticism Theme Icon
Benevolent Dictatorship and Freedom Theme Icon
Utopia and Creative Apathy Theme Icon
Individuality, Globalization, and Progress Theme Icon
The Fate of Humanity Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Childhood’s End, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Science and Mysticism

In Childhood’s End, a benevolent race of aliens comes to govern Earth. The Overlords, as humanity names them, initiate a century of utopia on Earth, which ends with all human children transcending into the Overmind, an immaterial, universal collective consciousness. In doing so, the children advance the human race into the next stage of their evolutionary development, though they destroy the Earth and the non-transcendent humans in the process. The Overlords want…

read analysis of Science and Mysticism

Benevolent Dictatorship and Freedom

The leader of the Overlords states, “All political problems can be solved through the correct application of power […] for it’s the application of the power, not its amount, that matters.” Through the Overlords, Clarke envisions an ideal use of power to govern a stable, efficient society that provides for all of its people. Such a power is empathetic, non-invasive, and nurturing, becoming largely invisible in everyday life and maintaining order from a distance. However…

read analysis of Benevolent Dictatorship and Freedom

Utopia and Creative Apathy

The Overlords have transformed Earth into a utopian society, free from competition, struggle, or suffering. Every human being has access to everything they need for next to no cost, education has become a lifelong pursuit, and life itself—formerly defined by conflict—has become defined by comfort and leisure. However, this loss of conflict and struggle has resulted in a simultaneous loss of ideals—no progress has been made in the arts or sciences, and the humanistic spirit…

read analysis of Utopia and Creative Apathy
Get the entire Childhood’s End LitChart as a printable PDF.
Childhood’s End PDF

Individuality, Globalization, and Progress

The utopian society that the Overlords have initiated has gone to great lengths to unify the masses of humanity. Every person on Earth has become proficient in English—since that is the language that the Overlords use to communicate with the humans—travelling the world has become a common pastime, and loosened sexual mores have eliminated many of the boundaries of the family unit. The world, in effect, is becoming more homogenous and interconnected, appearing more and…

read analysis of Individuality, Globalization, and Progress

The Fate of Humanity

In much of Clarke’s other writing, as well as the majority of science fiction written in his era, there is a humanistic optimism, a conviction that through science, technology, and determination, humanity can reach the stars. With the possibility of space travel approaching more rapidly than any dare dream (Clarke himself admitted to being blown away by how quickly the first humans landed on the moon) the possibilities seemed endless. Mankind would soon be pioneering…

read analysis of The Fate of Humanity