Leviathan - Darwinists vs. Clankers

The airship lay in a dark lump on the glacier's featureless white. It looked smaller now, as if slowly deflating. No fires or lamps were visible, just the strange glow he'd noticed earlier. Tiny pinpricks of light moved in the wreckage, like green fireflies buzzing about the giant creature's wounds.

Alek shivered. He'd heard awful stories about the Darwinists' creations: half-breeds of tigers and wolves, mythological monsters brought to life, animals that spoke and even reasoned like humans, but had no souls. He'd been told that when godless beasts were created, the spirits of demons occupied them - pure evil given flesh (Westerfield, 230).

The Leviathan had crashed into a desolate wasteland high up in the mountains, and Alek, the main protagonist, goes to check out the crash, worrying that there may be people who may be injured from the crash or need food. Once he got close enough to the site, he realized that the Leviathan wasn’t an airship, but rather a living being, and reflected upon all the facts that he was told about the Darwinists and their creatures.

The Darwinists’ creations definitely sound like monsters and creatures out of a fantasy book or video game instilled into reality. I think it would be cool to live alongside such creatures though, despite the obvious risk, but they shouldn’t hurt someone provided they’re treated well. We can learn more about them and we can also learn more about the past civilizations and why they worshipped such creatures so much. Having animals that can talk would obviously help in this endeavor, and being able to communicate with one another would help create more bonds between humans and animals.

What this passage seems to be illustrating is how difficult it is to understand where everyone’s coming from. Westerfield makes this point within the context of the story, as well as the descriptive words Alek uses to describe the Darwinists’ creatures. There are two factions, the Clankers and the Darwinists, who are against each other. The Clankers are the machinists and the Darwinists are the people who create animals and creatures not of the world naturally. Alek is a Clanker; Daryn is a Darwinist; the two have misconceptions of each other’s faction, and here especially, the readers see how misinformed and biased Alek is about the Darwinists’ creations, since they know how they are like from the viewpoint of Daryn. Alek claims that their creations are essentially demons, when it is obvious at this point of the plot that they have feelings as well. Seeing as this is one of the major causes of the main conflict within the plot, this type of scenario makes us, as the readers, reevaluate our perspectives of each side or even reevaluate our perspectives in terms of any “factions” going on within our own lives.

Part of being human is making mistakes; this includes misunderstandings as well. But making the effort to understand one another is what makes someone human on the inside. Understanding one another builds stronger bonds and relationships and offers a new perspective on the situation at hand. Without understanding, perhaps scientists may have never found out the connection between birds and ancient lizards.