48 pages • 1-hour read
Clues to the Universe
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Symbols & Motifs
The Rocket
The rocket is a key symbol in the story, representing Ro’s discoveries about The Science of Living, Friendship and Its Power to Inspire, and Finding Meaning in the Face of Loss. Ro names her rocket after Gemma Harris’s own rocket in the comics, honoring her new friendship with Benji and their agreement to help one another. The rocket started out as a project with her father, who shared Ro’s love and curiosity for outer space, but it sat unfinished for months after he died. One day, Ro decided she would finish the rocket and hopefully use it to launch her father’s treasures into space, the same way the Voyager probes carried samples of life on Earth to the far reaches of the galaxy. In doing so, Ro hoped that she could recover meaning in her life and find a way to honor her dad. Letting Benji help with such a personal project is a major step for Ro, but it becomes the best decision she ever made, as it leads to a meaningful friendship, winning the science fair, and most importantly, the realization that “sometimes you have to travel to the deepest of jungles or to the edges of space to figure things out” (287). Not all of life’s questions are easily answered, and what’s most worth discovering takes time, patience, and dedication.
Outer Space
Outer space is an important motif in Clues to the Universe, one that is used to help explore The Science of Living and the challenge of Finding Meaning in the Face of Loss. The story is called Clues to the Universe because Ro’s journey is both one of scientific inquiry and inquiry into life’s meaning and the nature of loss. The story opens with Ro’s musings on the lack of sound in space, which is one of many facts her father taught her before he died. Ro’s father was enthusiastic about space exploration, and he passed this passion on to Ro. She fondly remembers watching the Columbia launch with her dad and the hope that they and the whole country felt at that time. Ro decides she wants to finish the rocket she and her father started and launch her dad’s treasures into space, so they will be “floating through space like a message in a bottle” (24), like the Voyager II and II space probes.
Throughout the story, Ro draws on space metaphors, like comparing the craters of the moon to the heartbreaks of life and subtly comparing the social isolation she often feels to the fact that “there were nebulae and space dust and runaway stars and clouds of million-degree X-ray gas and No. One. Cared” (169). Ro also shares her love of space with Benji, who enjoys outer space from a more fantastical, imaginative perspective but who brings a new and fresh perspective into Ro’s life. His favorite comic, Spacebound, features a superhero who explores the universe, and Benji comes to view Ro in the same light.
Comic Books
Comic books are a key motif in the story, serving to characterize Benji and illuminate his perspective of the world as well as to demonstrate Friendship and Its Power to Inspire. Benji initially fell in love with comic books because of the vibrant illustrations and hopeful storylines. He liked the idea of being able to become a superhero, be powerful and confident, and have a larger purpose to serve. Before meeting Ro, Benji sees himself as a background character: “Some people would always be made of bright reds and blues and flashes and those BANG and KAPOW symbols and all that fun stuff. And I would be that sweet sidekick in the background. Or something. With my Red Vines. Barely sketched out and barely shaded in” (89). When Benji figured out that his dad was the writer and illustrator of his favorite comics, Spacebound, the comics took on an entirely new meaning for him. While his initial meeting with his father is painful and awkward, Benji and his dad slowly bridge the gap, using comics as a mutual interest and means to connect.
Benji is an illustrator himself and knows how to draw detailed, colorful depictions of space. He becomes an unlikely but logical candidate to help Ro with her rocket. Spacebound’s hero, Gemma Harris, travels the universe, searching for answers to life’s biggest questions, and for this reason, Ro comes to remind Benji of Gemma. After she moves away, Benji creates a new comic book featuring Ro as the superhero because Ro is a hero to him.
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