How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
He spoke in English so perfect that the controversy it began was to rage across the Atlantic for a generation. But the context of the speech was more staggering even than its delivery. (2.41)
Karellen can use syllables and words to speak English like a human being. Heck, better than most of the native English speakers we know. Yet this guy's manipulation of a human language is just the start, the tip of the iceberg, of the manipulation to come.
Quote #2
It was perfectly obvious now that Karellen had used him as bait, and even if this had been for the best of reasons, Stormgren did not feel inclined to forgive the Supervisor at once. (4.2)
Just how manipulative can Karellen be? He used the only human he has come to know on a personal level the same way a fisherman might use a worm on a hook. Pretty manipulative, no?
Quote #3
The day before, the great fleet of the Overlords had dissolved into nothingness, fading like mist beneath the morning sun.
The supply ships, coming and going far out into space, had been real enough; but the silver clouds that had hung for a lifetime over the capitals of Earth had been an illusion. (5.2-3)
Even the technology of the Overlords is generally used for manipulative ends. It wasn't an invasion fleet setting upon the Earth, but all smoke, mirrors, and holographs meant to trick humanity into submission.
Quote #4
Once [George] tried to see if he could influence the board by making it spell out his own name. He got the "G," but that was all: the rest was nonsense. It was virtually impossible, he decided, for one person to take control without the remainder of the circle knowing it. (8.71)
Human beings are capable of manipulation together in Childhood's End, but not so much as individuals, as evidenced by George's Ouija board experiment. Instead, it takes a whole bunch of people moving toward a goal to pull off some serious manipulative stunts. Looking at you, Athens colony.
Quote #5
"He pretends to be open-minded and skeptical, but it's clear that he would never have spent so much time and effort in this field unless he had some subconscious faith." (9.12-13)
Boyce pretends that his paranormal studies are the end result of a healthy skepticism, but he's not fooling anyone but himself. Which means he's actually kind of manipulating himself. Egads.
Quote #6
If the [Overlords] had never intervened, we might have reached Mars and Venus by now. I admit that it is equally probable that we would have destroyed ourselves with cobalt bombs and the other global weapons the twentieth century was developing. (12.9)
The Overlords' manipulation might have saved humanity from itself, or it might have destroyed what humanity could have been. The only thing we can say for certain is that those Overlords be manipulative indeed.
Quote #7
[Sullivan] kept telling himself that there was nothing to fear. No inspection of the whale, however close, could reveal its secret. But there was always the chance that Karellen suspected something—and was playing with them. (13.22)
Karellen's character is so manipulative that neither we nor the characters can ever be certain whether he's being genuine. He's like that jokester friend that keeps you on edge since you're always afraid he'll shout, "Gotcha!" at any moment.
Quote #8
New Athens was not a natural and spontaneous growth like the city whose name it bore. Everything about the colony was deliberately planned, as the result of many years of study by a group of very remarkable men. (15.42)
When the novel says everything was deliberately planned, we can interpret that as a type of manipulation. Again, notice how it took a whole bunch of humans together to pull it off.
Quote #9
"We are the interpreters—the guardians. Or, to use one of your other metaphors, we till the field until the crop is ripe. The Overmind collects the harvest—and we move on to another task." (23.33)
So… the Overlords do all the work and the Overmind collects the rewards? It seems the manipulators are themselves manipulated.
Quote #10
How much of this, Jan wondered, had Karellen planned, and how much was masterful improvisation? Had the Supervisor deliberately let him escape into space, almost a century ago, so that he could return to play the role he was fulfilling now? (24.28)
Again, we can never be too certain of Karellen's manipulative mastery. Does he plan out his manipulations or is he a master of thinking on his feet? You decide.