The recurring motif of telescopes and stars represents Michael Gordon’s desire for a world of order, distance, and safety, a reality far removed from the painful and unpredictable human conflicts on Earth. Astronomy offers Michael an escape into a cosmos governed by fixed, rational laws, a stark contrast to the emotionally charged religious debates that cause his suffering. The stars are constant, predictable, and untainted by hypocrisy or betrayal. His knowledge of cosmic distances and phenomena becomes a defense mechanism, allowing him to diminish the importance of his earthly pain. After the traumatic carnival experience, he comforts himself by focusing on the scale of the universe, telling Reuven that in the face of “ten billion galaxies,” the man who cheated them is merely “smoke” (35). Throughout the novel, Michael’s retreat into astronomical facts and fantasies consistently marks his withdrawal from emotional engagement, showing his deep sense of alienation and his desperate search for a reality he can trust. The telescope is his tangible connection to this safe, ordered world: His shattering of it before the summer begins is a violent, self-destructive act that signals his deepening crisis but which also parallels Danny’s process of isolation and breakthrough. Michael’s later dream of building a new telescope with his father symbolizes a fragile hope for restoring stability and the paternal relationship.