How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Quote #1
The early hominids awaken to discover a large black monolith looming over them. At first, they are terrified but eventually they draw close to the mysterious artifact and touch it.
Let's look at the monolith as a symbol of the mysteries of existence—you can extend this to view it as a religious icon, a symbol for God or a higher power. Either way, the hominids don't understand the monolith but they're curious about it. And this curiosity will set the tone for this theme throughout the film.
Quote #2
A hominid looks up at the monolith and scoots over to a tapir's skeleton. He taps a shin bone against the skeleton once, then twice. An idea seems to come to him, and he smashes it down on the skull, crushing it. Images of tapirs falling to the new bone club are interspersed between the moment of invention.
There's a whiff of the ye olde determinism versus free will debate hanging over this scene. Did the monolith determine that the hominid would learn to invent tools or did the monolith simply alter the hominid's mind enough for him to teach himself?
Quote #3
Floyd enters the dig site and sees the monolith. He reaches out and caresses the artifact with a sense of awe and reverence.
The curiosity that drew the hominids to the monolith has been inherited by their human descendants and has brought the hominids from Africa all the way to the moon. Again though, did we get there on our own accord or was Floyd simply following a 4-million-year-old map left by the aliens, left for him to follow when they thought humanity was ready?