“...I thought about how it must feel to lose your life so early. Lose your life, as if you held an egg in your hand, and then dropped it, and it fell to the ground and broke, and I knew it could not feel like anything at all. If you were dead, you were dead.”
Trond learns of mortality and death as he has experienced the loss of loved ones from his parents to his wife. As he also approaches the end of his life he contemplates what death is really like. Through his past experiences and loss he has learned that death is an affair only experienced by those left behind. Those left behind feel the weight of death as they mourn and grieve over their significant others. However, as an individual facing death when it arrives it is not an affair to be felt but rather that happens to you without feeling since you are just that, dead.
“Time is important to me now, I tell myself. Not that it should pass quickly or slowly, but only be time, be something I live inside and fill with physical things and activities that I can divide it up by. So that it grows distinct to me and does not vanish when I am not looking.”
At an older age, Trond grasps on a profound perception of time and life in general as he approaches his demise. Trond’s life has been filled with misery and he has attempted to avoid change or too many life variables in order to be tranquil. But now that time has passed and has brought him to the end of his life, he values the happenings of life. In that life is made up of everything that happens to us be it sad or happy, thus they make life worth to the individual.
“But that's life. That's what you learn from; when things happen. Especially at your age. You just have to take it in and remember to think afterwards and not forget and never grow bitter.”
The statement further accentuates Trond’s epiphany on what the meaning of life actually is. As he reminisces on his past, he realizes each experience in a person’s life is significant to their journey. Trond grew bitter in regards to loss and misfortune he experienced hence chose to be a recluse. However, at his advanced age as he approaches his death he identifies the mistakes in his life. Thus, by recollecting his memories comprehends the important things in life.
