48 pages • 1 hour read
James HiltonLost Horizon
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1933A 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
Karakal
Karakal is the mountain that rises over Shangri-La. In the novel, Karakal symbolizes many of Shangri-La’s values, including isolation, peace, and danger. Its height and steep terrain make it unclimbable, and its position in the plateau makes it difficult to reach, much like Shangri-La itself. However, it is also beautiful and geometrically perfect, making it a good symbol of the peace and tranquility that Shangri-La offers for Conway. Conway compares Karakal to a lighthouse, guiding travelers toward the safety and security of the valley. Rutherford finds no record of Karakal or of any mountains as tall as Karakal, and this elusive quality furthers the association between Karakal and Shangri-La, which is also not listed in any geographic or historical works.
Most importantly, Karakal is a symbol of ethereal or otherworldly possibilities. Its dimensions defy imagination, and its name, meaning “blue moon,” reminds Conway of the idiomatic expression “once in a blue moon,” which means rare or unlikely to occur. The existence of Karakal supports belief in Shangri-La’s offer of longevity and peace and even suggests that Shangri-La could withstand any attack or war that might happen to touch it. In the end, Karakal is wrapped in a storm, which threatens the serenity of the mountain and of Conway’s mind, making it also a potential symbol for Conway’s mental health. While in Shangri-La, overlooking Karakal, Conway feels peaceful, but, as the storm brews, Conway loses that tranquility, returning to the action-oriented and distressed mindset he had prior to coming to the valley. In this sense, Conway’s attempt to return to Karakal could be envisioned as a symbolic quest for tranquility, rather than a literal one for Shangri-La.
Lo-Tsen
Though Lo-Tsen is a character in the text, she is presented more as a symbol of beauty and humanity than as a person with agency and autonomy. The fact that Lo-Tsen is used as a symbol compounds with the underlying sexism and racism of the text, as she is alternately compared to a doll and a vase, both of which could be seen as distinctly orientalist comparisons. Lo-Tsen does not speak in the novel, which lends to her use as a symbol rather than as a character, though she does smile at Mallinson when she meets him and Conway before leaving the valley. It is Lo-Tsen’s love for Mallinson that breaks Conway’s ties to Shangri-La psychologically, which reflects Lo-Tsen’s use as an object for both Mallinson and Conway, in which Conway had accepted his fate as a perpetual observer of Lo-Tsen’s unattainable beauty, only to find that Mallinson had “attained” it by having sex with her.
Lo-Tsen plays the piano and harp, and, though she does not speak, she provides comfort to the travelers in her mere presence, which Chang refers to as a cooling of passions that quenches desire without satisfying it. Conway thus refers to Lo-Tsen as part of the “training” equipment of Shangri-La, which Chang rejects as a distasteful comparison, choosing instead to see her as like a ray of light reflecting on glass, which gives her a more ethereal quality. Like Karakal, Lo-Tsen symbolizes peace and tranquility, but, above that, she represents the retention of beauty that Shangri-La offers to Conway. Much like the music and art of Shangri-La, Lo-Tsen is perpetually youthful and beautiful, preserved in the lamasery. Once Lo-Tsen leaves the valley, however, she ages and dies in China, relating to the necessity of isolation for the preservation of fragile or precious things.
Music and Art
Music appears almost immediately in Rutherford’s story as an indicator of its validity, as his performance of unpublished Chopin pieces draws Sieveking’s attention. Music and art are a motif in the novel, reminding the reader of the value and power of aesthetics. As Conway spends time in Shangri-La, it is important to remember that even the landscapes and scenery he experiences are appreciated as works of art in themselves, along with the physical music, art, and literature he encounters in the lamasery. Lo-Tsen’s music, Briac’s meditations on Chopin, and even the “barbaric” music Conway hears throughout the lamasery are all representative of the overall value Shangri-La places on art and culture. Since the High Lama’s goal is to use Shangri-La as a shelter for cultural artifacts, it stands to reason that the lamasery would be full of artwork and instruments for the retention of beautiful things.
The motif of music and art reflects the Eurocentrism of the text, as nearly all the music heard in Shangri-La is European in origin, such as Chopin and the High Lama’s favorite, Mozart, while the only music Conway calls “barbaric” is native Tibetan music. Much of the art in Shangri-La seems to be Asian in origin, but the literature is decidedly European, making a notable shift from the Asian architecture to almost entirely European contents. Similarly, most of the lamas are presumably European, as the High Lama comments that Europeans benefit more from Shangri-La’s offer of longevity, making the music and art of Shangri-La a reflection of its inhabitants.
