60 pages 2 hours read

Michael Crichton

Sphere

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

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Part 4

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: “The Power”

Part 4, Chapter 45 Summary: “The Shadow”

Norman shows Beth the re-deciphered code. He reminds her that Jerry attempted to communicate with them only after Harry entered the sphere, that the marine life didn’t appear until then either, and that before the giant squid came, Harry admitted to being frightened by the giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Norman also points out that the second time the squid attacked, it left when Harry was knocked unconscious and returned when he woke. Norman believes that entering the sphere gave Harry the power to manifest things with his thoughts, and that he isn’t fully in control of what’s happening. Norman hypothesizes that the sphere is a sort of land mine left by an alien civilization to test those who come in contact with it. Norman says that Carl Jung had a theory that everyone has a dark side, or shadow, to their personality that contains all the bad parts of them. Jung believed that a person had to acknowledge this part of their personality or it would rule them. Norman thinks the sphere does the same thing, pushing a person’s shadow to the surface and revealing it.

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