59 pages • 1 hour read
Isaac Asimov, Robert SilverbergNightfall
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Stars
The stars are an overarching motif that allows the authors to discuss the unknown aspects of the universe. The novel opens on a day when four of Kalgash’s six suns are in the sky, a detail that will resonate with the final chapter of the novel, when the presence of four suns signals the hope of a new beginning. Although the six suns are an everyday phenomenon to the people of Kalgash, Asimov and Silverberg rely on the reader’s basic knowledge of stars and the sun on Earth to better understand the psychological effect that they would have on the novel’s characters. For instance, the first time the Stars are referenced as an apocalyptic phenomenon, the scientists are unable to conceive of their six suns as stars. From their perspective, the Stars are a divine fire, associated with the gods in whom the Apostles of Flame believe.
The characters similarly find it difficult to fathom anything of the universe beyond the six suns. Sheerin speculates about the existence of a planet with only one sun, allowing for regular cycles of day and night. Beenay suggests that life would be impossible on such a planet. Asimov and Silverberg seem to suggest that the same could be said for the reader who might find it difficult to imagine a world that experiences near-perpetual daytime.
However, just as the stars help to elucidate the characters’ lack of knowledge about the universe beyond their solar system, it also helps to reveal their sense of superstition, as well as the reverence they display toward the suns as forces of nature. The eclipse of Dovim is treated as a spectacle, and the Apostles of Flame attach a spiritual significance to its observation. At one point, Sheerin threatens to prevent Folimun from witnessing the eclipse, a deprivation that has profound spiritual significance in Folimun’s theology. At the end of the novel, Theremon notes that a four-day sun on Kalgash is considered a sign of luck, revealing his resignation toward the inexplicable, mystical forces that dictate nature and life on Kalgash.
Thombo Tablets
The ancient tablets that Siferra 89 recovers from the Hill of Thombo are a symbol of the novel’s ideas about the value of history. The tablets are the earliest indications that the eclipse is a cyclical phenomenon. Because human civilization barely survives the destructive impact of each Nightfall, the tablets are the only scientific evidence that points to the causes of each cataclysm.
The tablets contradict and complement the Apostles of Flame’s scripture in an interesting way. The Apostles’ scripture, primarily referred to as The Book of Revelations, contains an account of the eclipse that essentially matches the content of the Thombo tablets. Folimun 66 even extends an offer to help translate the tablets using the text contained in the scriptures, provided that Siferra turns the artifacts over to his possession. Ironically, while Siferra is quick to accept the tablets as evidence of something that happened in the distant past, she is hesitant to validate any part of The Book of Revelations. Sheerin points out in Chapter 25 that the contents of the Apostles’ scriptures are probably accurate to the events of the previous eclipse, but were distorted during the process of recording the account. This contradiction underlines the dynamic between science and faith as one of the central ideas of the novel. When the tablets suddenly disappear from Siferra’s laboratory at the start of Part 2, she immediately suspects Folimun, believing that the Apostles plan to worship the artifacts as relics.
The tablets are once again referenced at the end of the novel, allowing Folimun to reveal his true purpose in stealing the tablets. Through Theremon, it is made clear that the Apostles and the astronomers share the same objective: preserving the knowledge of the eclipse to prepare future generations, whether morally or psychologically, for the next cycle. In this way, it becomes clear that both groups deeply value historical thinking.
Thargola’s Sword
Thargola’s Sword is a recurring motif that points to the ideological overlap between science and religion. The phrase is first introduced in Chapter 9, when Athor 77 uses it to encourage Beenay to consider how his findings would fit with the Theory of Universal Gravitation. Like the real-life principle known as Occam’s Razor, Thargola’s Sword holds that the most complex hypotheses should be ruled out, as the simplest explanation for any phenomenon is the most likely. The continued applicability of this medieval principle shows that medieval thought is far from obsolete, suggesting the importance of Cooperation Between Science and Religion.
Theremon 762 is adamantly opposed to the Apostles of Flame, describing their belief system as medieval and outdated. Nonetheless, without their meticulous record-keeping stretching back to ancient times, the scientists would not have been able to predict the eclipse. Thargola’s Sword could be applied to describe the relation of the Apostles’ teachings to the historical calamities that followed the previous cycles of Nightfall. Their beliefs offer a pathway to the truth of what really happened, even if their scriptures contain merely shreds of the whole truth.
Lambs and Sheep
Lambs and sheep are employed as metaphors throughout the novel, which takes place on a sheep farm. The setting is realistic—there were many farms of this kind in colonial Africa—but it also functions symbolically. Sheep are among the most prominent symbols of innocence in Christian tradition, and the novel—in keeping with its skepticism of organized religion—frequently adapts and subverts this association. The characters who live on the sheep farm are themselves like sheep in their innocence, but that innocence often shades into naïveté that makes the characters more handily herded into pens. Without an adequate education and with only limited worldly experience, innocence can easily be exploited. Moreover, it is not necessarily synonymous with happiness. The suffering that both Waldo and Lyndall experience as children—Waldo with his crisis of faith and Lyndall with her stubborn desire for education—reveals itself in “intense loneliness […] [and] intense ignorance” (43). Childhood in the novel is a time of emotional pain and abandonment: an innocence that is not about purity but rather stained with the darkness of ignorance. The sheep and the innocence they represent are also associated with mindlessness—the herd moving as one. When Waldo sings hymns in tribute to God, “The sheep with their senseless eyes turn[] to look at him” (68). They do not understand the true nature of God or existence any more than Waldo does at the time, but unlike Waldo, they have no interest in learning.
In their connotation of sacrifice, the sheep also play with Christian symbolism. Waldo makes an offering of his lunchtime mutton, a literal serving of a sacrificial lamb, which God does not accept. This foreshadows both his and Lyndall’s fates, as they are sacrificed for their ideals to no apparent purpose. Waldo’s very job is to care for the sheep on the farm, but unlike Jesus, the shepherd of Christian tradition, he fails in caring for his flock, which includes Lyndall. Otto goes in search of the “lost sheep” who disappeared from the farm, foreshadowing the younger generation’s future. Em will have her goodness and trust betrayed; Waldo will wander, returning home to loss; and Lyndall will become a martyr—to what cause is unclear.
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