“People will trust a reliable criminal more readily than a shady businessman.”
Artemis has morally ambiguous characters including the protagonist who is a smuggler and hired hand for illegal operations. The moon city is populated by shady and devious businessmen and a corruption conspiracy is uncovered within the corporations. Since Artemis is on the verge of criminal control, Jazz is the unlikely hero tasked with saving the day. The narrative delves into this predicament where she causes potential harm to the public and later has to correct her mistakes. Thus, Jazz as a criminal is more trustworthy because she is dependable even though she has questionable morals.
“The overstimulated kids were literally bouncing off the walls. Lunar gravity is the worst thing to ever happen to parents.”
The novel has a comical tone because of the protagonist’s great sense of humor regardless of the situation. Artemis is the first human settlement on the moon therefore the physics of outer space meets the human experience. The quote illustrates the frustration from playing children on the moon where the low gravity allows for intensified mischiefs. Thus, it embodies the comical scenarios that arise from human beings settling on a celestial body other than Earth.
“There’s no more powerful tool for safety than communication.”
As a smuggler Jazz finds herself in compromising situations that jeopardize her safety thus she highlights the significance of communication. One of the issues facing the moon city is the insufficient infrastructures for long-distance communication. A major plot line is the discovery of ZAFO (“Zero Attenuation Fiber Optic”) by Svoboda that will solve the problems with transmission of data. Jazz dedicates herself to this endeavor which is not exploitative unlike other corporations in Artemis.
