Jan Rodricks

Character Analysis

Karellen aside (though definitely read that alien's analysis elsewhere in this section), Jan Rodricks is probably the closest we get to a protagonist in Childhood's End… and he's off on a galactic bus tour for eighty some-odd years of the story. He's there for the important bits, though, and he's arguably the only character to get the best of Karellen without Karellen allowing him to do so. And yes, we said, arguably—so much is up for debate in this book.

Stormgren v.2.0

Jan continues were Stormgren leaves off and is another main character that uses science as a philosophy and morality by which he runs his life. He has a desire to explore the unknown and expand human knowledge in the process, and all of his decisions are based on that desire.

The reason for Jan feeling like this is simply because he's bored:

Yet among all the distractions and diversions of a planet which now seemed well on the way to becoming one vast playground, there were some [Jan] who still found time to repeat an ancient and never-answered question:

"Where do we go from here?" (10.12-13)

To answer that question, Jan devises a plan to sneak aboard a model whale that will be shipped to the Overlord home world, thus transporting him there in the process. Jan really shows his need for speed while traveling to the sea lab to begin planning his stowaway strategy; he thinks:

Unknown—yes, an unknown as anything he might meet beyond the stars, if his mad plan succeeded. He was going into a realm of nightmare creatures, preying upon each other in a darkness undisturbed since the world began. (11.26)

Unknown. Darkness. Nightmare creatures. Most people might be terrified at these descriptions, but not Jan—probing the black holes of human knowledge is what this guy's all about.

In the end, Jan's plan succeeds, and he manages to travel farther into space than any human before him. Do the Overlords like this? No. Does he care? Again, nope. This is because for Jan, like Stormgren before him and Jeffery after him, the push is to discover and do something new. It's the one trait shared by all the main characters in every act of the novel. And it's a good thing, too, right? Because it helps keep things interesting for us as readers.

He's Just Right

But there's an aspect of Jan that no other main character has, and it's what makes us think he's the true protagonist of the story.

Stormgren is very scientific in nature, but we never see him do anything artistic. On the other hand, Jeff is very artistic, but he's too young to be very scientific in nature. Both characters have an urge to explore and learn, but they are missing what the other possesses. Enter Jan.

Jan seems to be a lot like Stormgren at first, lacking an artistic side. But when he returns to Earth after eighty years to find himself the last human ever, we learn something new about this guy:

The one thing he did not wish to do was to brood upon the past. There was everything here that he needed to maintain him for the rest of his life, but what he wanted most was an electronic piano and certain Bach transcriptions. He had never had as much time for music as he would have liked, and now he would make up for it. (24.54)

Upon his return, Jan comes to embody all the virtues and traits the novel has built up as the best of humanity—the scientific and artistic balance that no other character in the novel manages to grasp. He has been scientific and exploratory, and yet he's also invested in creativity in art. Jan, then, is the best human around—and that he is African-American is also pretty awesome, given that the book was published in 1953.

Granted, he's also the last man on Earth, so his awesomeness won't really matter because in a few days the whole planet will explode and mankind will become extinct. Still, kudos to that guy.

Fate?

Does Jan die at the end of Childhood's End or does he transcend into the Overmind? Either way, Jan is no longer "Jan," but do you think he passes on into death or passes on into the Overmind?

When the children at last join the Overmind, Jan records: "The light! From beneath me—inside the Earth—shining upward, through the rocks, the ground, everything—growing brighter, brighter, blinding —"(24.53). And that's the last we hear or poor old Jan.

Interestingly, the experience described by him is very similar to that described by dying people, except in reverse. Many people talk about soaring skyward to the bright light when they have near death experiences—but Jan's experience has the light heading toward him from beneath the Earth.

So the question then is what the heck this light is. Is it Jan visualizing his death? The light of the destroyed Earth? Or is it Jan joining the Overmind? Remember: Jan sees the Overmind on the Overlord home world, and it looks like various shapes of color (22.58). We'll never know the answer for sure, but it's a question we thought we'd throw your way all the same. Have fun trying to sort this one out.