“Star(s)”

“Star” 18 results.
“Stars” 35 results.

Stars, as in the hot balls of gas (crudely put) seemingly fixated millions and some billions miles away, appear just around 50 times in this novel. Stars, as in celebrities and popular figures in society, appear just handful of times. What’s interesting isn’t so much the shifting meaning/symbol of this word (particularly in the former definition) but the spread of the word itself throughout the book. 80% of the 53 appearances (42 times), the word star/stars occur prior to the Hammerfall. That means 42 out of 53 times it appears, star/stars is crammed into the first 200 pages while the latter 400+ pgs sparsely share a meager 11 occurences. In fact, the word ‘star’, after the Hammerfall, is never used again as a reference to the balls of hot gas instead it’s only used as a saying “…bird flashed across the sky like a shooting star” (pg. 327). For the word ‘stars’, I would only be constructing meaning from assumptions if I assert that the author(s) had in mind any purpose and dividing the stars throughout the book in this manner. What does happen however, is that prior to the Hammerfall, stars are seen in scientific/observed manner: photograph of stars for study/analyzing (p. 53) and Sharps talking about the importance of stars (p. 55). Also, stars also seem to symbolize a sense of hope in this novel. This is an obvious remark since if the stars were to blot out (in conjunction with the phenomena of the Hamner-Brown comet) would herald the possibility of the Earth taking a direct hit. In an idealized sense, as mentioned in my previous blog about the rural setting, this idea of stars being a sense of hope (or at least a bigger sense of awe rather than of chaotic portent) is captured when Harvey is in awe of the starry sky in the countryside. (p. 126). In contrast, post-Hammerfall, stars are not seen or choked out a seen in two cases:  “Time rarely saw the stars” (p. 489) and “A few stars showed through the overcast… …points of light too far apart to recognize as constellations” (p. 578). Adding onto this interpration, it is readily accepted that stars are a symbol of guidance simply for being used as reference points for navigation and also, for some, as signs for paving one’s future. If stars are less and less seen post-Hammerfall, and in cases they are seen happen to be moments of being blotted out – perhaps, it does add to the bleak setting a post-apocalyptic scenario may have.