41 pages • 1 hour read
A Canticle For Leibowitz
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Symbols & Motifs
The Statue of Leibowitz
Fingo’s wooden carving of Leibowitz appears early in the novel and endures throughout. It is a piece of wood that survives for centuries in a world where nuclear war is always possible. The statue is a reminder that culture is tenuous, that religious ideas have tremendous staying power, and that how religious idols are represented can shape the thinking of those who view the idols. For instance, Zerchi prefers the carving of Leibowitz, with its enigmatic smile, to the sickly representations of Jesus, which always present him as feeble and, in Zerchi’s view, feminine. In contrast, he views the statue’s smile as “satiric” (315), as if Leibowitz is in on a cosmic joke.
The smile feels “familiar” (96) to Francis, reinforcing his idea that the wanderer in the desert was actually Leibowitz. Paulo describes the smile as “turned down at one corner; the eyebrows were pulled low in a faintly dubious frown, although there were laugh-wrinkles at the corners of the eyes” (172).
The Poet’s Glass Eye
Despite the loss of an eye, the Poet claims that the glass eye helps him see better. He is one of the only characters who speaks unapologetically about the value of fictional stories. The glass eye does not have the capability of sight, but its improvements are obvious to the Poet, who speaks primarily in allegorical language. Like a novelist, he expresses absolute truths with literary devices such as metaphor rather than always stating them overtly.
The Poet is a representation of literature’s value. His understanding of literature allows him to think in an additional dimension and bring other lines of inquiry into the common debates at the abbey. He seems eccentric to others, but he exists in a time when fiction itself is seen as eccentric or indulgent at best and dangerous at worst.
Fire
Fire is a tool of comfort and devastation in A Canticle for Leibowitz. Consider the observation of Brother Joshua: “How strange of God to speak from a burning bush, and of Man to make a symbol of Heaven into a symbol of Hell” (320). In the hands of the wrong people, fire becomes a perversion capable of obliterating the majority of humanity and creating Hell on earth rather than providing warmth. The Flame Deluge is the ominous name given to the original nuclear war. By the novel’s end, fire is no longer a comfort or a medium for divine communication. It is a catastrophic weapon whose use is titled “Lucifer is Fallen” (275).
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