Oppression (Motif)
Oppression is shown in various ways throughout Cloud Cuckoo Land. For instance, a prominent form of oppression is the Saracen Forces in Omeir's perspective. In order to conquer Constantinople, Saracen forcefully recruits children, one of them being Omeir, to join the war effort. As a result, Saracen is presented as a form of subjugating the weaker members of society. On the other hand, a quieter form of oppression is shown from Anna's perspective, when gender roles and social norms prevent Anna from learning how to read, and she is instead confined for most of the day in a room with many other seamstresses as they sew and embroider. Similarly, from Zeno's perspective we see that he lives in a society that remains largely homophobic and he is unable to be his true self for the majority of his life. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, oppression takes on many different forms and becomes a primary obstacle to the characters as they try to connect with reading and libraries and, ultimately, with each other.
Cloud Cuckoo Land (Symbol)
Cloud Cuckoo Land represents the unachievable utopia. A fictionalized paradise imagined by Diogenes, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a place in the skies where there is no suffering and everyone is happy. While each of the characters long to escape to a place like Cloud Cuckoo Land as a result of the oppression that they face, it is clear that such a utopia is unachievable, and that such happiness can only be found when they come to terms with their own standing in their societies. Omeir and Anna find happiness when they retreat to a rural home and raise a family together; Zeno finds happiness when he organizes a play with local fifth graders based on Cloud Cuckoo Land; Seymour reconciles with himself in prison when he preserves the knowledge of how ugly the Earth was rather than erase all of it as he is instructed to do; Konstance liberates herself when she uses her knowledge to destroy the illusion of safety that her spaceship once maintained. None of them ever went to a physical location that promised to be perfect—rather, they found a resolution by channeling their interactions with literature into their interactions with their surroundings. In this way, Cloud Cuckoo Land symbolizes the utopia that can never be achieved, and forces the characters—and the reader—to understand that we must come to terms with both perfections and imperfections in order to achieve our own version of "utopia."
Isolation (Motif)
All of the characters are, in some way, alone. The book opens with Konstance being quarantined alone while the virus affects everyone around her. We then see Anna isolated by her attempts to subvert gender norms and learn how to read; Omeir isolated by his cleft-lip; Zeno isolated by his experiences at war as well as his sexuality; Seymour isolated first by his autism and extremist ideas, then from the rest of society by his imprisonment. However, all of them manage to find a way past their isolation by connecting with others through books, especially with Aristophanes's Cloud Cuckoo Land. The motif of isolation reinforces the novel's message of how books have the power to bring humans all together, despite the extreme odds.
Technology (Motif)
Technology becomes prominent, especially in the later perspectives, as a way of contending with environmental issues. Zeno's experiences in the Korean War differ drastically from Omeir's experiences in the conquest of Constantinople, particularly because of the vast differences in war technology. Technology's use in conflict shows how technology can be a vessel for violence, highlighted more closely when Seymour uses technology to communicate with members of a sketchy conservation group and subsequently bomb the Lakeport Public Library.
However, technology isn't always bad. Seymour later uses technology to preserve the knowledge of what happened on Earth, rather than hide it as he is instructed to and perpetuate the image of Earth as a utopia. Additionally, Konstance's spaceship is supposed to be a protective living space, a ship that allegedly transports its inhabitants to a new planet so that they no longer have to suffer on the ravaged Earth. Thus, technology can also be a tool for good—the difference rests on how we use that technology, rather than technology itself.
Technology is still shown to be inferior to books. While technology can become outdated—as shown in the difference between the fighting tactics of the Saracen forces and those of Zeno's troop—and can be flawed, like Konstance's spaceship that is not a spaceship at all, books never have these issues. Despite dating back to Ancient Greece, Aristophanes's comedy survived and is read by people far into the future, connecting them with people that helped bring the world to this point from centuries ago.
The Animals (Symbol)
Animals in Cloud Cuckoo Land represent humans' connection to nature and the impact such a connection has on Earth. Shortly before the final assault on Constantinople, Omeir's beloved oxen, Tree and Moonlight, die. Not only does this signify the loss of connections to his home and childhood—and thus a loss of innocence—but it heralds a long-lasting conflict between humans that deeply impacts the natural world. The plundering and ravaging of cities in turn affects the environment—smoke from the cannons and burning homes, extensive use of lumber and minerals for ammunition and defense, etc.—and the potential consequences are symbolized in the deaths of Tree and Moonlight.
Similarly, animals in the present day represent this relationship. Seymour's owl friend that he named Trustyfriend is a bright spot in his lonely childhood, but one day, he discovers Trustyfriend's torn wing in the road, indicating the owl's death. Again, this indicates a loss of innocence as well as the deep impact humans can have on nature. Trustyfriend's death hardens Seymour's resolve to fight on the behalf of the environment and counteract humans' impact on it, and represents the dire future the environment may have if humans do not change their ways quickly.
