The Star Thrower

"The Star Thrower" (or "starfish story") is part of a sixteen page essay of the same name by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977). It was published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe. The Star Thrower is also the title of a 1978 anthology of Eiseley's works (including the essay) which he completed shortly before his death.

The original story

CHIP LIKES GUYS

The story describes the narrator walking along the beach early one morning in the pre-dawn twilight, when he sees a man picking up a starfish on the sand and throwing it into the sea. The narrator is observant and subtle, but skeptical. He has the last word, a pessimistic conclusion. Some excerpts:

In a pool of sand and silt a starfish had thrust its arms up stiffly and was holding its body away from the stifling mud.

"It's still alive," I ventured.

"Yes," he said, and with a quick yet gentle movement he picked up the star and spun it over my head and far out into the sea. It sunk in a burst of spume, and the waters roared once more.

..."There are not many who come this far," I said, groping in a sudden embarrassment for words. "Do you collect?"

"Only like this," he said softly, gesturing amidst the wreckage of the shore. "And only for the living." He stooped again, oblivious of my curiosity, and skipped another star neatly across the water. "The stars," he said, "throw well. One can help them."

..."I do not collect," I said uncomfortably, the wind beating at my garments. "Neither the living nor the dead. I gave it up a long time ago. Death is the only successful collector."

— The Star Thrower, p. 172

The story as adapted

The story has been retold in a more positive way by motivational speakers and on internet sites, often without attribution. It may have been first adapted to its more hopeful form by Joel Barker, who did credit Eiseley, in a motivational video from the early 1990s titled The Power of Vision. In this version the conversation is related between an older man and a younger one.

It was also adapted into a children's story in 2006. Called, "Sara and the Starfish." It re-tells the story from the eyes of a young girl as well as the starfish itself, though the moral of the story is the same as the original idea told by Eiseley.

Publication data

• The Unexpected Universe (1969, Harcourt, Brace and World ISBN 0-15-692850-7)
• The Star Thrower (1978, Times Books (Random House) hardcover: ISBN 0-8129-0746-9, 1979 Harvest/HBJ paperback: ISBN 0-15-684909-7, Sagebrush library/school binding: ISBN 1-4176-1867-1); introduction by W. H. Auden

External links

• Joel Barker's version of "The Star Thrower"