Ironlung and Project Hail Mary both are based on the idea of sin and absolution. Each placing Grace and Simon as Christ figures and what's so interesting is that PHM positions the viewers as Humanity being saved but Ironlung puts the viewers as complicate—as the people who puts Christ to die and is watching the crusifiction happen.
Stars in the Bible have been used as a way to talk about gods guidance and often when stars fall it symbolizes times of cosmic upheaval, divine judgment, or the collapse of earthly kingdoms. Such as in Revelation 6:13. So both stories inciting incident being the disappearance/dimming of the stars in itself is theological.
Grace's name quite literally being named GRACE and Being carried to be the savior of humanity by a ship called THE HAIL MARY! Grace is immediately separated from the rest of humanity with his only connections being to the children he teaches. Now this textually places him as a more traditional Christ figure.
Grace while never literally dying does die symbolically. Grace was placed on a ship with 2 others knowing that they were never going to return, leaving behind whatever life they had before, but the fact that there was two people with him is important because it mirrors the crusifiction. Christ in the Bible was not crusified alone, he was not special in his death, but instead was crusified with two criminals.
There's also the idea of diametrically opposed salvation. Salvation, or the return of the stars in PHM is a group effort, something that cannot be done alone but instead must be a collaboration with the care of rocky his friend symbolizing that salvation is not a one man journey but something that is born out of a love for others. That part of salvation was Grace figuring out what he needed to do to offer that salvation. It is not he needs to die but that he needs to continue to live on off of earth.
Simon is harder but that's because the text doesn't treat him as a traditional Christ figure but as HISTORICAL Christ figure.
Simon is a convict... A heretic to the COI (very similar to the roman empire) who as a punishment for his crimes is being sacrificed in an ocean of blood FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HUMANITY.
Simon is also a biblical name as well, meaning "God has Heard" and being one of the most common names in the Bible, Simon Peter being the one of the most important as he was the disciple instructed to lead the church after Christs crusifiction.
The leader of Eden (a reference to the Biblical garden) is called "the father" but the father has abandoned Simon, Echoing the crusifiction. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
Simons salvation is much darker than Grace's though, part of it is that he must suffer, he must suffer through an ocean of humanities sin. a reference to the blood sacrifice of christ. Searching in the dark for some light, hope, of continuing, and when he finds the black box of the sm-8, this guidebook of how to navigate through this blood ocean, how to save people he does what he must to give this to humanity, Praying to his mother, "Please keep this safe okay Mom? it's more than me.... It's more than me." Ultimately choosing to subcome to death to save the rest of humanity.
And In each story there is a woman who has to do what is "nesseary to save humanity" and by doing so place Grace/Simon in a position to be sacrificed for the good of humanity. In ironlung the woman's name is Ava in Phm it's Eva.
That's really similar huh? I wonder what these women could be a reference to. THE FIRST WOMAN EVE!
Think about it, Eve ate the fruit of knowledge, thus insuring humanities survival, but also sacrificing her own ability to live without sin.
Eva for her choice to sacrifice grace is put into prison for life BUT she doesn't regret it as she has found forgiveness in the success of Project hail Mary and Grace.
BUT AVA IS A DIFFERENT STORY Ava is Sacrificed herself, she knows she will not find absolution in Simon's success and Goes down in the ironlung herself and dies before him.
Even if this was not intentional I do find it interesting.
