Death
The theme of death is greatly explored through the characters within the novel through both their dialogues and their fears. At the very core of death, it is a primal human fear and thus is applicable to all characters within the novel. Their views, however, can vary greatly from each other and it is these differences and how they react to each other that shows the complexity of not only death, but also the ideas that come after it such as life after death, reincarnation and murder.Throughout the novel, the idea of death and dying is what drives most of the plots within the novel as it is the central theme through which all other characters can relate to each other with.
Murray's View
Murray Jay Siskind's view of death is based on the idea that death is something that proliferates throughout all of the world and all humans. Murray's belief in death encompasses even those he has not met and those distant from him. When talking to Jack in the exposition of the novel, Murray notes that "Tibetans try to see death for what it is. It is the end of attachment to things. This simple truth is hard to fathom." (38). Murray's affirmation and confusion about this truth shows that, for Murray, death is something that can be obtained by anyone so long as they end their attachment to things. However, the word "try" in the sentence denotes that Murray believes that even those so versed in the spiritual arts, such as the Tibetans, have yet to really see death for what it is.
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Later on in the novel we see that Murray's view regarding death is so focused on its universality that even the world is divided based on death. Upon gaining knowledge of Jack's impending death, Murray says to Jack that "[he] believes...there are two kinds of people in this world. Killers and diers. Most of us are diers. But think what it's like to be a killer. Think how exciting it is, in theory, to kill a person in direct confrontation. If he dies, you cannot. To kill him is to gain life-credit" (277). Murray's unsympathetic view of death shows that, to him, death is so abundant and absolute that other human's lives are but tokens to be used to extend one's life. This sadistic view of life and death connects to facets in the novel such as Hitler studies, which invariably affects Jack's own view of death. Indeed Murray's ultimatum towards Jack "Nothingness is staring you in the face. Utter and permanent oblivion. You will cease to be. To be, Jack. The dier accepts this and dies." (277) will influence Jack to commit his own crimes to save his life.
Jack's View
Jack, being the major character, has the most prominent view about death. He views it as the biggest fear in the world, and it totally consumes their life.
"I woke in the grip of a death sweat. Defenseless against my own racking fears. A pause at the center of my being. I lacked the will and physical strength to get out of bed and move through the dark house, clutching walls and stair rails. To feel my way, reinhabit my body, re-enter the world. Sweat trickled down my ribs. The digital reading on the clock was 3:51.Always odd numbers at times like this. What does it mean? Is death odd-numbered? Are there life-enhancing numbers, other numbers charged with menace? Babette murmured in her sleep and I moved close, breathing her heat." (47) |
Everything in Jack’s life seems to revolve around this growing fear. He wakes up in the middle of the night just contemplating about death. Once he had learned that “Death has entered. It is inside you” (137) and that he would die within 30 years Jack become completely obsessed with fear. His entire life revolved around the idea of death. His discussions with Babette all involved the topic of death. Once he discovers that a drug, Dylar, supposedly cures the fear of death, Jack becomes addicted to finding more about this drug. He tries stealing them from Babette, locate the source, and even gets professional testing done on the pills. When he learns that killing someone else could possibly alleviate his stress, he creates an elaborate plan to attempt a murder on someone. Jack will do anything he possibly can to deal with his fear of death. For him, the idea of death is one of complete terror.