MOON PALACE : RECAP

BY JIHANE CHOUALA T13

Motif of death

Death is very present in the novel, from the beginning until

the end. Indeed, it is developed as a part essential of human
life, as well for the person who dies as for the mourner.
Besides, death has also a liberating aspect, at the gates of
death, they allow themselves to confess what they always
tried to hide, to liberate the truth , to liberate themselves,
they finally accomplish the last part of the human life cycle.
However, it allows the evolution of the main character, the
way he perceived the world, as an orphan growing up with
his uncle, he never knew who his father was, then
mourning the death of Uncle Victor, leading him to die
slowly, just like Thomas in vis cave. This is the theme of
spiritual death, where the characters give up on life. No
matter how it is represented, death is everywhere.

Art in the novel

Art has a consistent place in the novel. Either by literature

or painting, it is an essential tool through the novel because
it gives to the characters a way to express themselves and
escape from the reality.
For instance with Barber, with his manuscript Kepler’s
blood, it was a way to put on paper his feeling about
ignoring who his father is or with just reading, to escape his
loneliness just like his father, Thomas Effing, with his
paintings while he was in the cave.
Art is also a way to understand ourselves, the reader
included. By describing Thomas' paintings, we imagine by
ourselves and the own image that we build from those
descriptions tells a lot about how we approach and
appreciate the world, that we could see in the Blakelock’s
artwork scene where Fogg minutiously observ and interpret
the painting, ignoring if he does it right, and this is why MS
didn’t want to see the paintings at first, because his own
representations were more precious to him.

Exploration in the American space

There are, indeed, many references around the moon. Firstly, the
spiritual trip that Fogg undertakes in order to discover himself is
at the same moment as the journey of the first man that walked
on the moon. The exploration of the space was totally new, a new
space to conquer just like Fogg with himself.
Secondly, the moon for Fogg represents the three steps of his
journey: the famous Moon Palace restaurant, that MS sees from
his apartment at a certain location, represents his landmark in
the huge city of New York at the beginning. Then,, the painting
Moonlight in the middle of his journey and finally at the end, on
the California beach, with the full moon that appears in the sky,
signing the end of his adventure and the beginning of another
one.
It seems life is a cycle for him but for the whole family top, from
Thomas' grandfather to Thomas to Barber to Fogg, they all
experienced life differently but at the end they found themselves,
learned to live for them, knew who they are and where they come
from and the american exploration of the space follows the same
spirit, of looking for answers, appropriating them and appreciating
them.