'If I Forget Thee, O Earth . . .'

“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth” is a short story by British author Arthur C. Clarke that uses a futuristic, science fiction setting to explore the themes of Coming of Age as an Individual and a Species, Legacy and the Relationship Between Fathers and Sons, and The Dangers of Technology. First published in 1951, the story uses a third-person limited perspective to narrate the experiences of a 10-year-old boy named Marvin, who travels with his father outside the lunar colony where they live to view Earth as it appears from the Moon.

Arthur C. Clarke is perhaps best known as the author of the screenplay for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Considered a major author within the genre of science fiction, Clarke is renowned for writing stories, novels, and nonfiction that look seriously at how technology might affect human life in the future.

This summary references the version of the story found in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, published by Tor Books in 2000.

Marvin is a 10-year-old boy who lives in a lunar colony of humans at an unspecified future date.