Childhood's End

Jan is the closest thing the novel has to a human protagonist. He embodies the human exploratory spirit, and his role as the “Last Man” (208) allows him to be the human lens that views and describes the end of the world. Jan is initially described as frustrated, both by love and by the Overlords’ ban on space travel. He is also Black, and his overall success reflects the massive societal change that has occurred since the 20th century. Jan’s frustration gives rise to his quest to visit the stars, which is likely what grants him the perspective to cope with returning to a world cataclysmically changed. Equally passionate about science and music, Jan demonstrates that art and science are both human necessities. He also shows that an aptitude for science does not negate an aptitude for art, and therefore embodies the novel’s repeated challenging of accepted dichotomies. Once his scientific and exploratory goals have been achieved, he spends his last years absorbed in music.

Jan’s journey to the Overlords’ planet and subsequent return follows the Hero’s Journey template popularized by Joseph Campbell in his influential 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.