All the Glimmering Stars

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, suicidal ideation, death, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and child sexual abuse.

“Led by a fanatical, false messiah, LRA forces were either fearless or dead, a fact that made even a man like Seargent Bol dread the night and the hymns that would soon lilt and threaten over the grasslands, as if given voice by sirens and false angels.”

The opening lines of the text introduce Joseph Kony, the LRA, and the child soldiers, setting a dark and eerie mood. The use of a simile, comparing the children to “false angels,” emphasizes the soldiers’ duality. While they look young and innocent, Kony has turned them into deadly weapons.

“Random threat was a constant in the bush of the central highlands. Leopards, lions, hyenas, cape buffalo, and elephants roamed in the thick cover. So did poisonous snakes and, worst of all, disaffected soldiers from the five-year Ugandan Civil War, which had ended the year before.”

These words describing the situation in Uganda highlight the role that the setting plays in the novel. The land itself masks many natural dangers, but the men who roam it because of years of civil war ravaging the country pose an even greater threat.

“‘The medicine man also told me that all our spirits come from stars and return to stars when we die. So, when you look up at the stars, Anthony, you may also be seeing the spirits of your ancestors and the souls of your children shining back at you.’ The boy peered up at all the glimmering stars in the vast blackness of the night sky.”

George’s words to his son introduce the symbolism of the titular stars. Throughout the novel, the stars serve as a guide for Anthony when he’s lost and anchor him to the happy memories of his family before he was kidnapped.