70 pages • 2 hours read
James S. A. CoreyLeviathan Wakes
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Religion
Leviathan Wakes includes many religious references, starting with its title. In the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the leviathan is the sea monster that swallowed Jonah. In the Expanse series, humanity is similarly “swallowed up” by the possibilities presented by the Protomolecule. Using the Protomolecule to modify humanity, effectively creating a new form of human life, is akin to playing god. It even evokes the fall of man, when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, committing the original sin. Because of this, Adam and Eve were banished from their home in Eden, and humanity was forever stained with the corruption of sin. In Leviathan Wakes, the serpent is greed, the forbidden fruit is the Protomolecule, and Adam and Eve represent humanity. This foreboding parallel foreshadows that future attempts to manipulate the Protomolecule will have dire consequences.
The idea of temptation recurs in the exchange between Fred Johnson and Dresden. After the OPA’s attack on Protogen, Dresden attempts to negotiate for his freedom, promising money, weapons, medical supplies—whatever Fred desires. In response, Fred asks, “You’ll give me all the kingdoms of Earth if I just bow down and do one act of worship for you?” (410). He’s referencing Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the New Testament: “Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9, KJV). That Dresden doesn’t know the story, a cornerstone of the Christo-Western conception of right versus wrong, emphasizes his immorality.
Several of the characters’ names are also religious references. Amos is the name of a biblical prophet who preaches about the rich exploiting the poor and the divine judgment that will be visited upon them. In Leviathan Wakes, Amos is no prophet, but he is more than willing to be the tool others use to deliver judgment, as seen when he defers to Holden’s judgment in Leviathan Wakes and elsewhere. The biblical origins of Amos’s name also foreshadow his fate in the final book as the survivor a bygone era who recounts the events of the series to new generations. Naomi is a biblical figure from the Book of Ruth who struggles with her faith because she blames God for taking her family away. This reference also foreshadows later character development; subsequent books reveal that, like her biblical counterpart, Naomi Nagata has a long-lost family, most importantly a son, whom she hasn’t seen in years due to ideological conflicts with the father.
Miller gets into a conversation with a missionary as he’s traveling to Eros. Miller mentions that he was a Methodist when he was anything, which provides a little insight into Miller’s pragmatic leanings. It also suggests that he feels a void in his life. The Mormon spaceship, the Nauvoo, is another religious allusion. The name comes from Nauvoo, Illinois, which was established by Mormon settlers in 1839. The town’s name is derived from the Hebrew word for “beautiful” in Isiah 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (KJV). This references the ship’s intended purpose: carrying Mormon colonists to the Tau Ceti, a planetary system similar to Sol, where they hoped to establish a new settlement, bringing human life and their faith—their “good tidings”—to a new planet.
Food and Drink
Food is often mentioned—both in descriptions of unpalatable synthetic food on the stations and the succulence of real food, which speaks to the socioeconomic imbalance between the Belt, Mars, and Earth, as well as the preciousness of resources like natural food and water. This is best exemplified through kibble, one of the staple dishes of the Belt, which evokes images of dry pet food in the reader’s mind, and inspires disgust among the Inners. Miller also eats black sauce and noodles, which brings to mind dishes like Korean jjajangmyeon, which originated in the kitchens of Chinese migrants and became so popular among the working class that its price was regulated to keep it affordable. Such dishes—simple, filling, and affordable, made with stable ingredients—define cuisine in the Belt, where fresh foods and meats are expensive. Even Amos, who grow up impoverished on Earth, is used to a different kind cooking. His response to a prepackaged protein bar—“Goddamn, Boss, I’d give my left nut for food that didn’t look like a dildo” (91)—speaks both to his blunt personality and general distaste for food in the Belt, which necessarily prioritizes function over flavor or style.
The rarity of fresh food is also emphasized as the end of the book, when Holden interrupts a conversation about the mysterious happenings on Venus to comment on presence of real strawberries. He only stops eating them when the conversation segues to Miller, who sacrificed himself to save Earth—a subtle indication of Holden’s personal priorities, in which fresh fruit ranks fairly high. Having grown up on a 22-acre farm, Holden is privileged even among Earthers when it comes to accessibility and availability of fresh food.
This is most clear in his love of coffee. Good coffee is a luxury in the Expansive universe, as seen in Holden’s reverent treatment of the coffee machine aboard the Rocinante: “It also had a full-size coffeepot […]. Holden said a silent prayer of thanks for bloated military budgets and pressed the brew button. He had to restrain himself from stroking the stainless steel cover while it made gentle percolating noises” (173). This tongue-in-cheek scene plays up Holden’s love of coffee for humor, but it also speaks to the scarcity of quality coffee—it’s an extravagance, an indulgence, affordable only to those with more money than they needed, like a military with an outsized defense budget. This scene also informs his character—it directly reflects Holden’s privileged childhood on a farm and his past as a UN Navy soldier. The caffeine in coffee also indirectly suggests that he wants to be alert but also that he needs to wake up, to confront the harsh realities of his circumstances and respond with more deliberate intention.
Compared to coffee, alcohol is comparatively easy to access, and the characters frequently patronize bars on the various stations. Miller is described as an alcoholic, although booze rarely gets in his way during the course of the narrative. The subtext is that he uses alcohol to self-medicate; he prizes alcohol’s quality as a depressant, something to numb his pain.
The novel also considers The Value of Connection, Family, and Home through food. Although the food the Roci crew eats in the galley is all imitation fare, the meals are family affairs, with each person taking on a preparation responsibility, and all of them sitting down and dining together, complete with laughter, warmth, and arguments around the table. The Protomolecule is described as eating people, and the infected regurgitate contagious “zombie vomit,” which helps the Protomolecule infect more people and expand its influence. For the Roci crew, eating becomes a communal activity, one that nourishes their bodies and minds, and strengthens their bonds as a found family. The Protomolecule, meanwhile, “eats” to support its function and further its mission—its consumption is purely practical, a means to a self-serving end.
