45 pages 1 hour read

Scott Reintgen

Nyxia

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017

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Symbols & Motifs

Biblical Allusions

Biblical allusions are a motif in Nyxia and demonstrate The Dangers of Ambition. The Genesis 11 space vessel is named after the 11th chapter in the Book of Genesis, which tells the story of the Tower of Babel; Babel Communications and the Tower Space Station get their names from this story as well. In the story of the Tower of Babel, humanity uses its ability to speak one unified language to work together and build a tall tower that will reach up to the heavens. To check the people’s hubris, God causes them to speak multiple languages so that they can no longer understand one another. The tower is never completed, and the people scatter across the globe. In the story of Babel, the people’s ambition to build their own way into heaven leads to great division. Similarly, in the novel, Babel Communications’ nyxia mining for profit has led to division and disaster. 

Babel Communications has named the planet it is mining Eden, which is a biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden. In Genesis, Eden is a perfect paradise where people live in harmony with God and nature until their ambition causes corruption to creep in.