The marrow thieves

“A man without dreams is just a meaty machine with a broken gauge” ( p. 142)

Miig’s metaphor compares dreamless people to machines with a broken gauge. They are like machines because they have become mere devices for performing tasks. Physically, they continue to function. But psychologically and spiritually, they are totally lost. This is why Miig says their gauge is broken. A gauge is an instrument that measures the amount or contents of something, for example, fuel in a machine. The metaphor indicates that in losing their ability to dream, people have lost their sense of direction and motivation along with their ability to know how they’re doing in life.