ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by star navigation.

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It's like GPS,

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but without the nagging voice.

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All right.

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[ mumbles ]

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Huxley...

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[ mumbles ] Chessboard... chessboard...

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All right, which of the following most accurately rephrases

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Helps' observation about stars,

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"Ah... elsewhere"?

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Yeah, lines 34 through 38.

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All right, and here are the potential answers.

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Yeah, you can just read it for yourself.

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We're not gonna mumble.

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Okay, let's get to it.

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Well, in the preceding sentence, the author explains

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how contemplating the universe can give us

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a more reasonable perspective on a terrible, horrible, no-good,

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very bad day.

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In the following sentence, the author says that

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the stars' knack for therapy is a bigger deal than

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their ability to guide ships.

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Well, this is obviously a person who's never been lost at sea.

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Choice A definitely does not get it.

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Helps' main point isn't that the stars' morale boosting power is

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lesser known than their power to help us navigate.

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He's simply saying that the whole morale-boosting thing is more important.

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Option D is a nice thought.

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It'd be swell if everybody in the world would look up at

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the stars and all be magically unified.

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That's not what Helps is saying, though.

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Even he is more of a pessimist than that.

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Choice B and E are the closest we've had yet, but they take

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the story too far.

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They both seem to think that the stars have some kind of mind control

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powers over human beings. Scary prospect.

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Just imagine what they might make us do.

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Actually, don't imagine that.

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All right, in the end, choice C is the best answer.

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"Navigation, shmavigation," says Helps.

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The important thing is that the stars help us see that

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our everyday concerns are nothing in the face of

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the great, big everything that's all around us.

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We bet if Helps were lost and starving at sea, he might

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be a little less into deep thoughts

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and a little more into finding the nearest port with fresh water

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and a Denny's.

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[ noise ]

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