As the novel progresses, the characters ignite the theme of hope and fertility along their journey. Furthermore, the theme of hope and fertility is present when Julian can reproduce. The renewal that Theo and the Fishes—and, of course, the world—have all been waiting for has finally arrived in the form of Julian’s child. There is now hope for a future—if one child can be born, surely another birth, or several births, must be possible. However, Carl Inglebach’s reverent proclamation that “it”—human life, the hope for a future, the realignment of society toward goodness and order—has begun again is contrasted by Theo’s bitter thoughts on the bloody origins of this new world.
“Carl looked down at the child with his dying eyes. “So, it begins…show more content… Theo wonders if power will come to control him as it came to control Xan, whether power will even continue to exist as it has for the last fifteen years now that there is hope for a new world, and whether or not he will mourn the “loss” of whatever small shred of power he has just instinctively made a grab for. Unlike Rolf, the leader of the Five Fishes who planned to abandon his goals and beliefs as soon as he acquired the power he so desperately wanted, Theo plans to “remedy” the evils of the world and to use his power for good. There is a shadow of doubt in his own mind, however, when he considers the failure of Xan’s initial good intentions, and wonders whether he himself will be able to remain loyal to and mindful of his own best intentions for the future of humanity. Xan is portrayed as a villain archetype because he was a powerful and evil dictator. He discriminated against those who had disabilities, deformations and those who were criminals from the semen and gynecological
