A Childhood's End

Childhood’s End In the book Childhood’s End the character Rikki Stormgren faces a private passion that conflicts with his responsibility. Stormgren is the Secretary-General of the United Nations. It is his job to maintain a strong relationship with Karellen, the Overlord of the world. The only problem is no one ever saw Karellen before. Stormgren only talks to Karellen on his ship that hovers above earth but they communicate through a screen between two rooms. Stormgren’s private passion is to see what Karellen looks like. His responsibility as Secretary-General though is to keep a good relationship with Karellen. Stormgren knows attempting to see Karellen will ruin their relationship. Eventually, Stormgren’s private passion gets the best of him and he tries to find a way to get a glimpse at Karellen. He has a physicist named Duval help him. The two of them try to think of a way to see Karellen while Stormgren and Karellen have their regular meetings in Karellen’s ship. They came up with idea that if they shine a light beam through the screen he will be able to see Karellen. When Stormgren tried this all he saw was a metal door closing as Karellen walked out. On page 55 the book says, “Yes, Karellen had trusted him, had not wished him to go down into the long evening of his life haunted by a mystery he could never solve. Karellen dared not defy the unknown powers above him (were they of that same race also?), but he had done all he could.” I think this statement means that Karellen is sorry that his friendship with Stormgren had to end this way, but Karellen knew he couldn’t go against his own responsibilities of not revealing himself yet. The book also states on page 55, “ And Stormgren hoped that when Karellen was free to walk once more on Earth, he would one day come to these northern forests, and stand beside the grave of the first man ever to be his friend.” I think this is an important statement because it says that Stormgren misses his friendship