Independent Reading Entry 7

Percy, Walker
10/1/08

The conclusion of the book was incredibly exciting. In the midst of a hurricane Lance is increasingly caught up in his newfound openness and freedom and commits to a plan. The reader is unaware of his plan and he never quite says it to us but you become aware of what he's doing as he's carrying it out. He was betrayed by his wife and is numbly upset and holding on to an incredible amount of anger even though he does not show it. Because of this he reconfigures the gas pipes in the basement of the mansion and routes the methane to the air conditioning. Nobody is aware of the leaking gas and after a run in with Raine, Lance's wife's attractive friend, he ends up committing adultery with her. This confused me because aside from a held back flirtation that they had between them i would think that after such a traumatizing feeling that he got from his wife's infidelity he would feel different about this kind of act. Apparently not though because of the intense descriptions in the scene and the overall feel of the scene. He has developed a different outtake on sex since being in the mental asylum and the description of the sexual experience is shown as attempting to find a secret out from your partner. This intrigued me although i did not quite put together the metaphor.

The whole ending scene had a very surreal feeling to it and Percy definitely did this on purpose. The methane was getting into people's lungs and affecting the thought cycles of everyone. To show this, Percy used vague diction and many similes and metaphors. His ability to describe what's going on while still keeping the feelings of vagueness and a lack of clarity added to the chaos of the final scene.