Cloud Cuckoo Land

Libraries and books are motifs that represent knowledge. There are two important libraries that are settings: the Lakeport Public Library and the Argos’s virtual library. The bombing at the Lakeport Public Library symbolizes Seymour’s radicalization. He is willing to damage the library and reject the sharing of knowledge in favor of becoming part of Bishop’s army. Radicalized beliefs are extreme, and while not necessarily bad, they can often lead people to extreme actions that have consequences on others. In Seymour’s case, his distancing from the library and eventual attack there illustrate that he has foregone knowledge and self-determination in exchange for a false in-group relationship. The Argos’s virtual library as a setting functions similarly because many of the passengers forego reality in exchange for living in the library’s virtual realm. In both cases, these settings illustrate that when people stop seeking new truths, they lose the ability of self-determination.

The library and book motif also symbolizes the gatekeeping of knowledge. In Anna’s story, she dreams of visiting the library in Urbino where anyone can access the books there, yet this never becomes a reality for her. A library that is only accessible to some might be “a place that protects books” (590), as Omeir puts it, but to protect books is not necessarily the same as sharing knowledge with others. When Anna and Himerius find the buyers have deserted Constantinople, Anna wonders if “the scribes of Urbino [are] any better than tomb robbers,” having taken the knowledge of the past for their own reward (231). Libraries and books, therefore, symbolize both the exchange of knowledge and why this exchange is so important.

The walls of Constantinople symbolize the natural reliance on existing power structures. Historically, the city’s walls protected it from invasion for nearly 1,000 years until the Ottomans and their giant bombard breached them in 1453. Doerr uses this bit of reality to ground his story, while also employing the walls to symbolize how difficult it is to overcome the status quo. Until the fall of the city is inevitable, Anna believes that the walls will protect her because that is what she is taught. Omeir articulates this belief well, observing that when the Ottomans arrive outside the walls, the prospect of tearing them down feels like “fleas jumping at the eye of an elephant” (236). Like Konstance who must accept that the Argos’s journey to Beta Oph2 is false, Omeir and Anna must grapple with the reality that the city walls can be breached. This symbolizes the deconstruction of reality that happens during each character’s coming-of-age plot, wherein they must accept a new version of reality upon learning important truths.