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Jessica
The way I interpreted it, the sleepwalking was a precursor to becoming fully fevered, but it hadn't yet been triggered because he was too fixated on efficiency to really give way to nostalgia. Then, when Candace is talking with him over tea, she asks him what it's like to be "back," and it's clear he hadn't really thought about it before. Once he starts thinking about it, he says it even smells like it did when he was a kid. My thought was that in the few hours after their conversation, he starts thinking more and more about his fond memories of being in the mall as a kid, and it's that nostalgia that makes him fully succumb to the fever.
A
I'm not quite sure I understand the question but I'll give it a go lol. I think Bob is supposed to represent tradition/'the system'; i.e. his need for organization, the pre-stalk ritual he makes everyone partake in, his religiousness. But his need to return to the old times, seems to trigger the Shen Fever. That's perhaps a warning for us to constantly change, to not is stagnation and death. Yet, change does not mean giving up everything we know. When Candace leaves and arrives in Chicago, she brings with her all the knowledge Jonathan gave her. She also realizes, she's been there before. Throughout the novel, there's a theme of finding the balance between old and new, routine and change, the memories of the past and the realities of the present.
The Arabian Nights is a tale of survival. Scheherazade tells stories so the sultan won't kill her. There's many stories to distract, but the underlying story is of a woman trying to get by as best she can, which is essentially the narrative of this novel ( I think),
The Arabian Nights is a tale of survival. Scheherazade tells stories so the sultan won't kill her. There's many stories to distract, but the underlying story is of a woman trying to get by as best she can, which is essentially the narrative of this novel ( I think),
Ben Worsley
I have a peculiar take on the ending that I only partly believe, but I still find interesting to ponder. As we saw in several instances, most pointedly with Bob and Ashley, a person's past can be a trigger to becoming fevered - "The past is a black hole, cut into the present day like a wound, and if you come too close, you can get sucked in."
As Candace travels to and through Chicago, she feels positively compelled to stay on Milwaukee Avenue. "It is the one thing that feels familiar. Even if it a secondhand familiarity....As if all of the stories Jonathon told me of his years in Chicago...had seeped into my own memories." Maybe Candace's relentless journey without apparent underlying logic or true goal is the onset of Shen Fever.
DUN-TUN-DUN!!!! (Dramatic music)
Or maybe I'm just making stuff up.
As Candace travels to and through Chicago, she feels positively compelled to stay on Milwaukee Avenue. "It is the one thing that feels familiar. Even if it a secondhand familiarity....As if all of the stories Jonathon told me of his years in Chicago...had seeped into my own memories." Maybe Candace's relentless journey without apparent underlying logic or true goal is the onset of Shen Fever.
DUN-TUN-DUN!!!! (Dramatic music)
Or maybe I'm just making stuff up.
Andrea
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Bridget
I think the narrator telling you she may have seen Eddie the taxi driver fevered, or she might not have, was her way of saying she wasn’t sure if Bob was fevered or sleepwalking or what. We do know in both cases, she saw her opportunity and took it.
James (JD) Dittes
I felt that Candace's immigrant status inoculated her from the fever. She had moved from China to Utah, then from Utah to NYC. There simply are no routines that translate. Like most religions, Bob's is compulsed by Nostalgia to return to the Facility, not understanding that staying away was what kept the fever at bay, too. He was fine in the early weeks, because the mall had changed so much, but once he had routines, once he was walking the same patterns he had walked as a child, he was done for.
Judy Lindow
'Memories beget memories. Shen Fever being a disease of remembering, the fevered are trapped indefinitely in their memories." I'm thinking Bob was enticed by Candace to remember his past and that started the fever for him. In the end Candace starts living in the memories she has of her mother and her -- and ultimately is driven into the fever by reliving Jonathon's memories she'd shared with him (I mean she's driving into a log jam of cars with no gas right?)
Angelina
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Sarah
It’s interesting because it’s almost like a “sun downers” state. I think him becoming fevered but it showing only at night goes to the fact that they really don’t know the facets of the fever. And maybe in his state, it was somehow fixable? Because it seemed clear at the end that Adam knew. Perhaps his role of keeping everyone alive somehow grounded him. But when his mind had the opportunity to be free, he became fevered. Perhaps Candace was the same way when she was talking to her mom? Maybe she wasn’t asleep. Maybe she was in a fevered state? Perhaps all her reminiscing is what caused her to become fevered? I’m also curious about her interaction with Eddie. She said that maybe he wasn’t fevered. That interested me a lot. I got on track in this answer but oh well, haha.
Susan Reeves deMasi
Wondering the same things!
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Sep 06, 2023 01:33PM · flag