Summary
The second part of Spring opens by marking how things are changing now that people know that the strings are authentic. The media focuses on the acts of terror committed by short-stringers, while long-stringers, brazenly confident due to the assurance of life granted by their long strings, are engaging in ever more risky behavior. However, they fail to recognize that there are effects you can live with (coma, vegetative state, paralysis, etc.). Even if they feel sympathetic toward short-stringers, many long-stringers are beginning to grow fearful of them, as someone with a very short string has nothing to lose because they will not live to face the consequences of their actions. Society begins implementing measures such as a hotline for people opening their boxes. With all these measures in place, and special accommodations for short-stringers being publicly discussed, Erlick foreshadows an event on June 10 that will cause significant action on the "short-stringer issue"(p. 71).
We meet Anthony Rollins, a Virginia congressman running for president and waiting for an event to catalyze his campaign. First, he gets his lucky break because just as information about his questionable actions towards women in college begins coming out, the strings appear and become the main topic of conversation on every news outlet. He receives information from a campaign volunteer who has intel that the Ohio senator Wes Johnson, who is currently polling in front of Anthony, is a short-stringer. The rescue of the campaign by the appearance of the strings, his and his wife's long strings, and the damning information about Senator Wes Johnson that could save his campaign support the Rollinses' idea that God is on their side and looking out for his campaign.
Ben and Amie continue their exchange after Ben decides to write back despite his fear that one of the members of his support group is toying with him, the way he was the victim of merciless pranks in high school. Lea from the short-stringer support group convinces Ben to share the secret of his having a short string with his parents, but Ben ends up deciding not to tell them after hearing his mother speak of the miracle of the son of their neighbor, who has a rare blood disorder but received a long-string. After this talk about miracles, Ben puts off telling his parents that they will surely outlive him. In the exchange between Ben and Amie, she asks him if he regrets looking at the strings, to which he answers that usually he regrets knowing but hopes that one day he'll be grateful to know. Hank catches Ben putting the letter on the floor against the shelf for his mystery pen pal to find, and Ben tells hims all about their exchanges. In return, Hank divulges that he's not like the rest of the support group—he's at the end of his string.
Maura begins having what she sees as biological pangs. She finds herself desiring a child after 29 years of rarely thinking about children. She cries after seeing a sweet exchange between a little boy and his mother after a playdate. She struggles with the idea of telling Nina as they both had agreed that neither of them had maternal instincts, and Maura has a short string, so it feels like this is a desire Nina would never understand. This secret begins affecting Maura's interactions with Nina, and she becomes snippier with her. When she uses Nina's laptop to email work, she discovers Nina's lengthy short-stringer-related search history and sees it as an obsession. They discuss the issue, with Maura asserting that there's only room for one person to go crazy, and because Maura is the one with the short string, she reserves that right. After hearing that Lea, a fellow short-stringer in her support group, is her brother and brother-in-law's surrogate, Maura decides to tell Nina the truth. In telling Nina the truth, she says that in the end she thinks her desire isn't about her wanting children, but rather a fixation on how many doors are closing due to her short string. She's anxious about whether she'll ever find a job she loves, whether she'll travel more, or do something that leaves an impact. This heart-to-heart has softened things between the pair, and they resign to hoping Amie decides to have kids soon so they can be cool aunts.
Jack is Anthony Rollins's camera-shy army cadet nephew who is roped into Rollins's campaign. Jack's mother left when he was a child; she was a free-spirited woman who lost her son in the divorce to her husband's all-powerful Hunter family. Because his aunt tried her best to nurture him after his mom left, he wants to help his aunt. Jack is a cadet despite not wanting to be, but because of the family tradition of one person in the family going to the military academy since 1770, his father gave him no choice. Jack's not a high-performing cadet, and he's ridiculed by his fellow cadets because of his family line. He doesn't want to be a part of his uncle's military campaign, but he promised his aunt Katherine and his father is making him keep his promise since they're family. He hopes that the arrival of the strings will derail Anthony's campaign. He reasons that because the world has entered such uncharted territory, surely they'll want a tried-and-true candidate in the White House. He believes his uncle no longer has a chance to win the election.
Javier is Jack's first-generation American Hispanic roommate at the military academy. Javier initially seeks Jack's guidance because of the Hunter family's reputation, but soon learns that Jack isn't as strong or disciplined as the other cadets, and the military decorations in his family line are a weight on Jack's shoulders. Javier doesn't think anyone should treat Jack differently just because of the accomplishments of his ancestors. He understands Jack's predicament and sympathizes with the pressure he faces. Javier feels his own pressure to succeed as he represents part of the mere 10% of Latinos on campus. Javier chooses the military path because it's one that his hard-working patriotic immigrant parents admire. The fact that he has received a full scholarship further solidifies his path as well as his parents' pride in him. Javier and Jack have both decided not to look at their string, much like the rest of their classmates. Their profession is dangerous, and knowing when their life would end would make the risk seem all too guaranteed. Both boys are in the last month before their graduation.
From Hank's point of view, we meet Dr. Anika Singh, a gifted surgeon at New York Memorial Hospital, and the second great love of his life. They're now exes because Anika felt she couldn't commit to Hank the way she is committed to medicine; however, they still sleep together now and again. Hank doesn't open his box immediately, but eventually, his curiosity wins. He wishes he'd kept the box shut because he's at the end of his string. After learning about his fate, he invites Anika over. Hank isn't planning on telling anyone about his death date, but while fetching a glass of water, Anika sees his string in his open box on the kitchen counter. Hank's string is half the length of her own, and she goes into shock. She talks to Hank about his string and he is livid until he realizes he isn't mad at her, he's mad at his string. Further, she doesn't leave him, she stays and tells him that he isn't alone. Hank decides to take his advice and join a support group. He intends to go to a support group for people at the end of their strings, but it feels too depressing so he follows where the laughter is—Room 204. This group is for short-stringers with more time left, and this is how his story crosses paths with many of the other characters in the short-stringer support group.
We see the first primary debate of the election season on June 9 through Hank's eyes. There are rumors that Anthony Rollins is planning to make a huge announcement during the debate, so Hank decides to tune in. The debate begins with a discussion about China's nationwide mandate to require all citizens to open their boxes and report the length of their string to the government. Then, the moderator asks if, in light of the violence ensuing after the strings' arrival, any of the candidates have changed their opinions or proposals. Anthony Rollins ignores this question and reveals his long string to the audience, and asks other candidates to do the same in the spirit of transparency. The audience is split on Rollins's action, with most of the audience booing him. Candidate responses are also torn: one candidate says they've decided not to open their box, someone else supports Rollins, and for most of this debate Senator Wes Johnson, Sr., the candidate who is ahead of Rollins and whom Rollins has damning information on, remains silent. Johnson then gives a speech equating asking candidates to reveal their string as akin to not electing them due to factors they cannot change such as race, gender, disability, etc. He claims that it is opening another category of discrimination, and argues that some of America's greatest leaders have died in office and that their positive influence in the country wouldn't have occurred had they been overlooked because of their strings. The audience cheers and Rollins stays quiet, and Hank can tell by the look on Johnson's face that he too is a short-stringer. While the audience's response is positive, it ignites something online. It starts a conversation on the volatility of short-stringers and the different professions in which people should have to disclose the length of their strings. Among all this angst, the following morning, a short-stringer detonates a bomb outside the Capitol.
Analysis
One of the novel's overriding themes is how the appearance of the strings has completely transformed the world. Erlick uses different literary devices to illustrate the immensely complex effects of the strings, and to pose the question of whether or not they are a gift to humanity. Erlick begins this section of the book with an allusion to the story of Adam and Eve. She compares the split created by the new world order to that between those who have eaten the apple and those who were too scared to bite (p. 69). In the biblical story of Adam and Eve, the serpent tempts them to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam and Eve both ate an apple, even though God warned them not to, and from this one action original sin was born and created a new world. Similarly, the boxes arrived with a transcription that can be seen as a warning: "The measure of your life lies within." In the novel's prologue, Erlick similarly describes the tissue covering the string as a warning to think twice before letting one's curiosity lead the way (p. 2). Like in the Bible, an entirely new world is created from giving into temptation, and the only ones somewhat outside of it are the people who are too scared to "bite." This supports the motif of strings in this novel: were people meant to resist opening the box? Are the strings a grand test? Is there another way to read "The measure of your life lies within"? Only time will tell, but Erlick continues to depict the boxes as a test through her use of metaphors, foreshadowing, and allusions throughout The Measure.
Irony makes an appearance when long-stringers begin to think of themselves as invincible in comparison to short-stringers. When the boxes first appeared, long-stringers began to ignore dangers and risks and indulge in activities like taking drugs because they know their strings are long. But situational irony arises when next, it is short-stringers who become the major cause for alarm, because they will not live to be imprisoned or face real consequences for their actions (p.70). Because of this unpredictability short-stringers have no reason to operate inside of the law, as imprisonment would be short-lived or entirely avoided by way of death. A further irony arises when the long-stringers' risky actions do in fact lead to consequences, like coma or life-altering injury, that belie the expectation of invincibility. Consequently, long-stringers grow more and more fearful of short-stringers. This also poses the question of whether people are motivated to do good without a cosmic reward for ethical behavior. This also further supports the theme of fate versus fortune—whether a long life symbolizes good fortune or God's favor, and whether we believe that there is a cosmic reward greater than life.
The motif of trains appears throughout "Spring," symbolizing life and death and also being a container for the energy in the world. In the first part of Spring, we see Ben going through Grand Central Station only to enter an eerily empty NYC train during rush hour with a man singing "Little Boxes" to himself. Similarly, when Ben is on the way to his parents' house to speak about his string, he is waiting for the train when an elderly woman is swaying to the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The song is halted by the screeching arrival of the train. This arrival, cutting off the song that has just begun, symbolizes death (p. 79). Trains are symbols of death in literature—a train follows an invisible pre-laid track, similar to fate and death. This symbolism of trains supports the interpretation of Ben traveling on the train as an allegory for death.
Jack Rollins is part of a long line of male members of the Hunter family in the army. Because Jack is a cadet, Katherine and Anthony want him to come to Anthony's presidential rallies in his cadet uniform to align Anthony with the military. While Jack doesn't want to attend these rallies, he can't find a way out. Jack's only solace is that Anthony can't possibly win. Jack believes the recent arrival of the strings will decrease Anthony's probability of winning the election. In Erlick's writing, we see foreshadowing and dramatic irony. Because of the certainty with which Jack thinks that surely the U.S. will want a tried and familiar candidate to steer them through uncertain times, and the fact that his point-of-view ends with an assertion, "he couldn't possibly win now," we can predict that Anthony will get far in the election, and possibly even win. However, the reader knows that events in June will be a turning point, and we also know that America's fear of short-stringers is nearing a boiling point with each short-stringer attack.
The theme of perspective is also expounded upon in this section of Spring. In Amie's letters to Ben, she explains that she and a coworker spent an entire lunch convincing the table that the strings are a gift to humanity. They reason that there has always been messaging about living life as if every day were our last, but nobody does it. Thus, the strings offer us a chance to live more intentionally because we can know how much time we have to do so (p. 88). Similarly, in her subsequent letter, she explains how because there is no foolproof explanation for the strings, they can mean whatever we want. It can be the permission we need to do what we've been wanting to do or stop doing what is no longer working for us (p.112).
