Exploring the Unknown

Green emphasizes the complicated nature of exploring the unknown by showing how individual biases and self-interests affect the way different members of society interact with new experiences and technologies. The novel is built around the context of Carl’s sudden appearance in An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and the way that people’ diverging opinions about aliens became a divisive force in society. Although this conflict has disappeared alongside Carl by the start of A Beautifully Remarkable Thing, the remnants of society’s paradoxical longing and hesitation for the unknown continues to play a major role in this novel.

The novel’s key venture into exploring the unknown plays out through society’s adoption of Altus. Similar to the polarizing way April and Peter gained followers for supporting or rejecting Carl’s alien presence, Altus gains both advocates and adversaries from its early inception. Peter explains...