Lucky for us, Lord of Light deals with all different varieties of freedom and confinement, giving us a pretty thorough look at these ideas in action. Good times. Well, if you're a god, anyway.
There's the social variety of freedom and confinement, where the upper classes decide what technology or type of life the lower classes may have. Then there's the religious variety, where the gods make all the people worship them as the supreme beings. And then there's the personal variety. Here, the characters' souls are trapped within confines of their own making, and while some seem perfectly pleased in their gilded cages, others fight desperately to discover a personal freedom.
Which leaves us with one question: Which do you think seems worst?
Questions About Freedom and Confinement
- What character do you think is the most free in the novel? The most confined? Comparing these two characters, what can you say about this theme in the novel?
- Why do you suppose Sam's quest for freedom centers on Accelerationism? What is it about technology that makes it such a focal point for this theme?
- At the novel's end, do you think Sam has really freed mankind from its confinement? If yes, why? If not, then why not, and what still confines society?