Isolation

The author uses the theme of isolation to establish the idea that every person is fundamentally alone in the universe. Outer space is used as a metaphor for the existential alienation inherent in this premise. Sergei, Helen, and Yoshi go to space (or this experience is simulated for them), but in many ways it is Mireille, Dmitri, and Madoka who are most isolated. Mireille confronts the malaise associated with the feeling that her mother does not understand her, Dmitri struggles with the secret of his sexuality, and Madoka wonders if her husband knows her at all.

Helen introduces the idea of isolation in the first chapter, while discussing the astronaut Michael Collins. While Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong traipsed about on the moon, Collins stayed behind, orbiting in the ship. Every two hours, the ship would be out of radio contact with Earth for forty-eight minutes...