--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is a moon shaped rictus in the…" description: "\"There is a moon shaped rictus in the streetlamp's globe where a stone has gone and from this aperture there drifts down through the constant helix of a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg" --- # There is a moon shaped rictus in the streetlamp's globe… ![“There is a moon shaped rictus in the streetlamp's globe where a stone has gone and from this aperture there drifts down through the constant helix of aspiring insects a faint and steady rain of the same forms burnt and lifeless.” quote by Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg) > “There is a moon shaped rictus in the streetlamp's globe where a stone has gone and from this aperture there drifts down through the constant helix of aspiring insects a faint and steady rain of the same forms burnt and lifeless.” [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage paints a bleak, surreal scene where light reveals decay, and insects fall like a lifeless rain, symbolizing relentless, indifferent destruction. **In simple terms:** A dark, dying world is shown through a strange, rain‑like insect fall. Key Takeaway Notice how decay can be hidden in ordinary light. Themes decay surrealism nature violence existentialism Mood gloomy haunting reflective Type literary descriptive poetic When to use this quote - urban night - war zones - post‑apocalyptic settings - environmental collapse Key Concepts entropy nihilism symbolism Questions to Reflect On - What does the insect rain suggest about life’s fragility? - How does the streetlamp’s light alter perception of decay? A Different Perspective The imagery may romanticize destruction, overlooking resilience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aperture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aperture/) [Insects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insects/) [Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moon/) [Rain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rain/) ## Related quotes > [In each studio there is a human being dressed in the full regalia of his myth fearing to expore a vulnerable opening, spreading not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/in-each-studio-there-is-a-human-being-dressed-in-the-full-regalia-of/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Christ is the aperture through which the immensity and magnificence of God can be seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bertram-phillips/christ-is-the-aperture-through-which-the-immensity-and-magnificence/) [John Bertram Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bertram-phillips/) > [ In 1945 J.A. Ratcliffe ... suggested that I \[join his group at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge\] to start an investigation of the radio emission from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-ryle/in-1945-j-a-ratcliffe-suggested-that-i-join-his-group-at-cavendish/) [Martin Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-ryle/) > [Apertures, passages from one world to another. Man's escape hatches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-k-page/apertures-passages-from-one-world-to-another-man-s-escape-hatches/) P. K. Page > [If a man has a tent made of linen of which the apertures have all been stopped up, and be it twelve bracchia across…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/if-a-man-has-a-tent-made-of-linen-of-which-the-apertures-have-all/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/you-are-an-aperture-through-which-the-universe-is-looking-at-and/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The tempest unleashes an alphabetletters fall through the apertures of crazy anglesto spell out the futureuprooting the course of inventionand enslaving the masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-peters/the-tempest-unleashes-an-alphabetletters-fall-through-the-apertures/) Nancy Peters > [Fancy restrained may be compared to a fountain, which plays highest by diminishing the aperture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/fancy-restrained-may-be-compared-to-a-fountain-which-plays-highest-by/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [Photography isolates the world via an aperture and gives the photographer the means to see differently, to achieve a spontaneous vision that is direct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellsworth-kelly/photography-isolates-the-world-via-an-aperture-and-gives-the/) [Ellsworth Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellsworth-kelly/) > [Through small apertures we glimpse abysses whose somber depths turn us faint … Yet over the whole there hovers an extraordinary tenderness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/through-small-apertures-we-glimpse-abysses-whose-somber-depths-turn/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [I fuse light and shadow with aperture; I freeze a moment with speed; I let the unseen seen, the seen unseen with angles; I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ony-ony/i-fuse-light-and-shadow-with-aperture-i-freeze-a-moment-with-speed-i/) Ony Ony > [Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/animals-used-to-provide-a-lowlife-way-to-kill-and-get-away-with-it-as/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [When you narrow down your range and are looking through just that narrow aperture of the lens, the intensity of what you see is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-snow/when-you-narrow-down-your-range-and-are-looking-through-just-that/) [Michael Snow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-snow/) > [The present moment is the only aperture through which the soul can pass out of time into eternity, through which grace can pass out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-present-moment-is-the-only-aperture-through-which-the-soul-can/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [I've decided that what interests me most is that you can only capture the light at a certain time. But after that, five minutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-luc-godard/i-ve-decided-that-what-interests-me-most-is-that-you-can-only-capture/) [Jean-Luc Godard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-luc-godard/) ## More by Cormac McCarthy > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“The events of the world can have no separate life from the world. And yet the world itself can have no temporal view of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-events-of-the-world-can-have-no-separate-life-from-the-world-and/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-had-two-dreams-about-him-after-he-died-i-dont-remember-the-first/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said. The old man was looking out at the flooded town. No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-think-people-was-meaner-then-than-they-are-now-the-deputy-said/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They set forth in a crimson dawn where sky and earth closed in a razorous plane. Out there dark little archipelagos of cloud and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-set-forth-in-a-crimson-dawn-where-sky-and-earth-closed-in-a/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Nothing. Where all was burnt to ash before them no fires were to be had and the nights were long and dark and cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/nothing-where-all-was-burnt-to-ash-before-them-no-fires-were-to-be/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [He said that whether a man's life was writ in a book someplace or whether it took its form day by day was one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-said-that-whether-a-man-s-life-was-writ-in-a-book-someplace-or/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“He lives in a room above a courtyard behind a tavern and he comes down at night like some fairybook beast to fight with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-lives-in-a-room-above-a-courtyard-behind-a-tavern-and-he-comes/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Ultimo hombre. Last man standing, must've been one. Where'd he go?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/ultimo-hombre-last-man-standing-must-ve-been-one-where-d-he-go/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“To seek out the upright. No fall but preceded by a declination. He took great marching steps into the nothingness, counting them against his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/to-seek-out-the-upright-no-fall-but-preceded-by-a-declination-he-took/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Night fell upon them dark and starblown and the wagon grew swollen near mute with dew. On their chairs in such black immobility these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/night-fell-upon-them-dark-and-starblown-and-the-wagon-grew-swollen/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“When I was in school I studied biology. I learned that in making their experiments scientists will take some group - bacteria, mice, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/when-i-was-in-school-i-studied-biology-i-learned-that-in-making-their/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [ “We none of us knew him to speak \[Dutch\]. Asked him where he'd learned it you know what he said? What did he say.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/we-none-of-us-knew-him-to-speak-dutch-asked-him-where-he-d-learned-it/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“You know that the things you put it your head stay there, right?' 'Yeah. But you remember some things, don't you?' 'Yeah. You remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-know-that-the-things-you-put-it-your-head-stay-there-right-yeah/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) [Explore all 927 Cormac McCarthy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## More Aperture quotes > [In each studio there is a human being dressed in the full regalia of his myth fearing to expore a vulnerable opening, spreading not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/in-each-studio-there-is-a-human-being-dressed-in-the-full-regalia-of/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [The present moment is the only aperture through which the soul can pass out of time into eternity, through which grace can pass out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-present-moment-is-the-only-aperture-through-which-the-soul-can/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [When you narrow down your range and are looking through just that narrow aperture of the lens, the intensity of what you see is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-snow/when-you-narrow-down-your-range-and-are-looking-through-just-that/) [Michael Snow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-snow/) > [Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/animals-used-to-provide-a-lowlife-way-to-kill-and-get-away-with-it-as/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [I fuse light and shadow with aperture; I freeze a moment with speed; I let the unseen seen, the seen unseen with angles; I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ony-ony/i-fuse-light-and-shadow-with-aperture-i-freeze-a-moment-with-speed-i/) Ony Ony > [Through small apertures we glimpse abysses whose somber depths turn us faint … Yet over the whole there hovers an extraordinary tenderness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/through-small-apertures-we-glimpse-abysses-whose-somber-depths-turn/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [Photography isolates the world via an aperture and gives the photographer the means to see differently, to achieve a spontaneous vision that is direct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellsworth-kelly/photography-isolates-the-world-via-an-aperture-and-gives-the/) [Ellsworth Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellsworth-kelly/) > [Fancy restrained may be compared to a fountain, which plays highest by diminishing the aperture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/fancy-restrained-may-be-compared-to-a-fountain-which-plays-highest-by/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [The tempest unleashes an alphabetletters fall through the apertures of crazy anglesto spell out the futureuprooting the course of inventionand enslaving the masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-peters/the-tempest-unleashes-an-alphabetletters-fall-through-the-apertures/) Nancy Peters > [You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/you-are-an-aperture-through-which-the-universe-is-looking-at-and/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [If a man has a tent made of linen of which the apertures have all been stopped up, and be it twelve bracchia across…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/if-a-man-has-a-tent-made-of-linen-of-which-the-apertures-have-all/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Apertures, passages from one world to another. Man's escape hatches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-k-page/apertures-passages-from-one-world-to-another-man-s-escape-hatches/) P. K. Page > [ In 1945 J.A. Ratcliffe ... suggested that I \[join his group at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge\] to start an investigation of the radio emission from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-ryle/in-1945-j-a-ratcliffe-suggested-that-i-join-his-group-at-cavendish/) [Martin Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-ryle/) > [Christ is the aperture through which the immensity and magnificence of God can be seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bertram-phillips/christ-is-the-aperture-through-which-the-immensity-and-magnificence/) [John Bertram Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bertram-phillips/) > [I've decided that what interests me most is that you can only capture the light at a certain time. But after that, five minutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-luc-godard/i-ve-decided-that-what-interests-me-most-is-that-you-can-only-capture/) [Jean-Luc Godard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-luc-godard/) [Browse all 22 Aperture quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aperture/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is a moon shaped rictus in the streetlamp's globe where a stone has gone and from this aperture there drifts down through the constant helix of aspiring insects a faint and steady rain of the same forms burnt and lifeless.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cormac McCarthy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-streetlamp-s-globe-where-a-stone/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Aperture" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-streetlamp-s-globe-where-a-stone/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d4/cormac-mccarthy-181_aperture_there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-str_2279692.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is a moon shaped rictus in the streetlamp's globe where a stone has gone and from this aperture there…” — Cormac McCarthy", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is a moon shaped rictus...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-streetlamp-s-globe-where-a-stone/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/there-is-a-moon-shaped-rictus-in-the-streetlamp-s-globe-where-a-stone/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```