How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
He was looking at a peaceful family group, differing in only one respect from the scenes he knew. The male, female, and two infants that had mysteriously appeared before him were gorged and replete with sleek and glossy pelts—and this was a condition of life that Moon-Watcher had never imagined. (3.7)
The slab shows Moon-Watcher a vision of luxury. He's basically watching Cribs or The Fabulous Life of…—but for prehistoric cave-folks. Who would have thought that television would be so important in getting those lazy ape-critters to get out of the house and make something of themselves?
Quote #2
…it was longer still before Moon-Watcher, despite all that he had been shown, really understood that he need never be hungry again. (3.23)
This line echoes Scarlett O'Hara's famous vow in Gone With the Wind that she will "never go hungry again." It's not clear that this is an intentional shout-out—and intentional or unintentional, it seems to undermine the novel's point. After all, tens of thousands of years later, folks are still worried about going hungry. Hunting didn't change that, and neither did the agricultural revolution. Moon-Watcher sees a dream of permanent progress, and Clarke seems to see it too—but that dream isn't quite reality, whatever the novel says.
Quote #3
Yet he had no regrets for those lost beauties. He had enjoyed them all, in his thirty-five years of life; and he was determined to enjoy them again, when he returned rich and famous. (16.6)
This is one of the few glimpses we get into what makes Bowman tick, or what he wants out of his trip. It seems fairly banal—he just wants to be rich and famous. Rather than making him more specific, his dreams just make him more generic. He wants what everyone else wants. You're boring, David.