Metaphor for unresolved tension
In the beginning of the novel, the narrator reveals that the two main characters, John and Kathy are a couple. Despite this, a long time has passed since the two were intimate and the author hints that the two were unable to have sexual intercourse for some reason. The lack of sexual intercourse is used here as a metaphor to suggest some unresolved tension between the two.
Politics as a collection of magic tricks
Those who knew John when he was just a young boy remembered how he was always fascinated by magic tricks and the idea of magic in general. When he grew up, he continued to indulge in fantasies and imagine himself as having powers the others around him did not have. The characters in the book compare John’s fascination with magic with his interest in politics and they argue that for John, politics was just another collection of magic tricks. The comparison between the two shows that politics is just another tool used to deceive people and that it is not based on real facts but rather on illusions.
The soldiers and Kathy
John noticed that both Kathy and the soldiers around him stopped trusting him around the same time. it was as if the two parties communicated with one another and revealed John’s real face. Kathy’s behavior and the soldiers’ behavior is compared in the 8th chapter and the comparison between the two has the purpose of highlighting the idea that at one point, the truth will come out and the deception will shatter.
Love and snakes
In a letter John sends to Kathy from Vietnam he compares their love with two snakes eating one another. Kathy is disturbed by the image but the aspect implied through this comparison is that John and Kathy’s relationship is destructive to both of them. John is not the only one who suffers because of it but Kathy as well because she has power over John just as he has power over her.
No contact
The unplugged phone is an important element in the novel because it has a metaphorical value. The phone connected John and Kathy with the outside world since they were in such a secluded area. By unplugging the phone, John separated himself from the rest of the society and made himself be inaccessible. In fact, John isolated himself starting the moment he lost the elections and so the phone is used to suggest his state of mind and attitude towards the outside world.
