Landscape with Invisible Hand

“When I look at my drawing now, I can see a lot of the mistakes I made in getting the reflections and distortions right.”

Adam’s character arc is closely tied to his artistic development. He grows wiser and develops a stronger understanding of the world as he advances his artistic skills.

“It wasn’t just that people had to get most of what they owned by scavenging. It was also that people had lost hope. Everyone spent their days trying to figure out how to get stuff for their family to eat.”

The author uses simple, literal language to describe the extreme poverty people on Earth are experiencing. The statements represent real-world poverty and help illustrate the mental and emotional difficulties that arise in poverty conditions.

“They promised us tech that would heal all disease and would do all our work for us, but of course no one thought about the fact that all tech would be owned by someone and would be behind a paywall.”

The author criticizes humans’ shortsightedness, particularly regarding seemingly beneficial technology. Humans gladly accepted the technology that the vuvv offered without considering the potential consequences of the arrangement. Again, the author intentionally demonstrates real-world concepts and events, helping establish the text as a dystopian satire.

“But our leaders were making speeches about how America’s middle class had to stop dreaming and start learning how to really work.”

The wealthy and powerful elite blames middle- and lower-class humans for their own poverty. They suggest that if people only worked harder, they’d get out of poverty. The author is satirically criticizing the common and misguided real-world assertion that poverty is purely the fault of the individual.

“The hand that records is also what makes everything unclear.”

Adam’s observation serves two primary functions. First, it’s an allegorical adage meant to reflect the idea that history is always skewed. It’s akin to the famous Winston Churchill quote, “History is written by the victors.” Second, by noting that recorders are inherently fallible, Adam suggests that he’s an unreliable narrator. His characterization as a moody and judgmental teen, as well as his intense, hallucination-inducing fever later in the novel, support his being an unreliable narrator.

“Dining rooms are the vermiform appendix of American architecture. They’re leftover from some earlier phase of evolution, and everyone still has one, even though we no longer need them to digest.”

This description of the uselessness of American dining rooms, as with many of the novel’s satirical passages, is a double entendre. In the context of the story, it helps characterize the Costello family and describe the setting within their home. It symbolizes their emotional distance as well as the larger social indifference in the fictional society. Implicitly, the author is criticizing the real-world social climate in the US, which is increasingly individualistic and dependent on technology rather than in-person interaction as happens around the dining room table.

“The weird thing about the rich, though, is that when they’re done using something, they don’t want anyone else using it either.”

The rich inhabitants of Earth, who live in floating vuvv buildings, destroy the items in their garbage that could be deemed valuable to the people living in poverty on the surface of the planet. This detail demonstrates the apathetic elite’s desire to be accepted into the vuvv culture and to distance themselves from the humans living in poverty conditions as a result of the vuvv invasion.

“I sat on my bed, hearing the murmuring through the floor. My stomach was in an uproar. It felt like all the tubes led to one central place in which something evil sat, stewing.”

Chloe grows disinterested in Adam, and he hears her talking to someone else. His feelings about Chloe and their relationship conflate with his symptoms of Merrick’s Disease. The comparison between the disease and his feelings reflects the strong corporeal reaction of experiencing rejection.

“At that moment, I wished I could elect Mr. Reilly as my grandfather. Maybe even my father, if he’d agree to pull the polyester lint off his necktie.”

These lines demonstrate Adam’s appreciation of Mr. Reilly. He’s a mentor and a friend, and Adam wishes that his teacher were part of his family. The quote suggests that Mr. Reilly is older than Adam’s absent father. The thought about the lint on Mr. Reilly’s tie further characterizes Adam as a stereotypically judgmental teen.

“Once when we were pretending to kiss—our mouths stuck together uncomfortably like fried onion rings—just pressed against each other, not moving, trying not to breathe each other’s breath—suddenly a word popped into my head: intimacy. The opposite of intimate is usually public.”

The author incorporates sensory language to help depict what Adam feels. The combination of the imagery of onion rings with the mention of breath creates a sensory experience of the smell of onion breath, further supporting the lack of intimacy between the two teens. The juxtaposition of “intimate” and “public” in regard to their relationship suggests that the relationship was doomed to fail and also acts as a criticism of real-world performance culture.

“We are nothing special anymore. Whatever possessed us, when we were in love, has departed. We are just animals. She has udders; I have acne. There is no romance.”

Adam no longer feels sexually attracted to Chloe. The depiction is intentionally relatable to those who have experienced the rise and fall of love. In the beginning, a couple feels unique and views each other idealistically, but after the decline of a relationship, disillusionment sets in. Adam’s dehumanizing language isn’t meant offensively—rather he’s criticizing both of them for their naivete.

“We all have to find some way to live with the world as it is now. We all have to become something new, something the vuvv want, each one of us trying to translate the thoughts of the vuvv from something that just sounds to us like scratching and broken zippers.”

Adam can sympathize with Buddy while painting a picture of Buddy’s house because he realizes that they’re similar—they’re both poor artists who are simply trying to survive in a capitalist world ruled by the desires and whims of the vuvv. His realization acts as an aphorism that extends to the real world, in which many people struggle while doing their best to get by in a capitalist society dominated by an out-of-touch upper class.

“The vuvv don’t wear translators—they say it’s up to us to speak their language, if we want to do business with them.”

The vuvv refusal to wear translators is another satirical jab at a common assertion in the US, which demands that immigrants learn to speak English. The comment reveals the arrogance and apathy of the vuvv species, which in turn reflects the arrogance and apathy of many US citizens.

“You people are so much more spiritual than we are. We’ve lost the path, you know, with all this commercialization.”

Shirley’s assumption about human spirituality is an example of dramatic irony. While she views humans as “primitive” and spiritual, Adam and Mr. Reilly understand that human society is commercialized rather than spiritual.

“This is one of my students […] One of my best students, Mrs. Gregson. His name is Adam Costello. You’ll be reading about him in art journals one day soon.”

Mr. Reilly demonstrates his pride for Adam by bragging about him to Mrs. Gregson. The unconditional support that Mr. Reilly offers Adam suggests that Mr. Reilly has a paternalistic love for his student.

“His voice is high and meepy, and it breaks my heart for an adult to sound that way, so broken, so desperate.”

As a teen, Adam has certain expectations of adults. He assumes that they’re always resilient, confident, and mature, and his father’s emotional vulnerability makes him uncomfortable. His assumptions are realistic: Many children and teens hold adults to higher standards.

“Someday I’ll give it to her. When everything is better. The natural history of her life, sketched out, because nothing means as much until it has vanished.”

Again, Adam uses his artistic abilities to process heavy and complicated emotions. Nattie’s stuffed animals are a reminder of her youth, and Adam, who prioritizes his family, doesn’t want Nattie to lose the memories of her beloved toys. However, he recognizes that things are bad and that the family needs the money. The selling of Nattie’s toys represents the loss of her childhood.

“I want time to pass, but time is always here, around us, not flowing, but static as thickening concrete.”

The author uses simile, comparing time to thickening concrete, to inspire a sensory response to the concepts of time and impatience. Adam is waiting for several things—waiting to get home, waiting to hear back from the contest, waiting for conditions to improve—and he’s becoming impatient. The use of simile and sensory language intentionally enriches the literary value and conveys Adam’s perspective.

“The economy will get better. It always does. We just have to wait it out. The invisible hand of the market always moves to make things right.”

Mrs. Costello’s remark references the book’s title. Her suggestion that the market will get better on its own, given sufficient time, is another example of dramatic irony in which the character doesn’t notice the contradiction, but others do. In addition, the sentiment supports Mrs. Costello’s characterization as an optimist.

“While I’m still in the shadows, I piss a smiley face into the snow. There it is, though it takes some doing to shut off and on for the eyes. I may not win anything in orbit, but I still have made my mark upon the Earth.”

Adam views his smiley face as the mark he has left on Earth. His comment suggests that he feels confident he’ll win and change his circumstances, potentially leaving Earth for better worlds, and reflects his low opinion of Earth because of living in chronic and severe poverty. In addition, the idea of a smiley face drawn in urine intentionally incorporates dark humor into the story that contributes to the book’s categorization in the satirical genre.

“Money is only money because we pretend it’s money. Worth something. Worth other money.”

The author criticizes the value that people place on money and wealth both in the novel and in reality. His argument that money is pretend suggests the absurdity of valuing currency, which exists because of collective imagination, over people.

“Outside of space and time, time and space, there will be no distance between ourselves and what we wish for; no infinite gulf between currencies; the gulf between currency and eternity is great enough.”

Adam wants to escape from the capitalism that has caused him and countless others much suffering. Although he discusses wanting to hide in a painting, the language here suggests that death is the only escape. The allusion to death is intentionally misleading to enhance the twist ending of Adam and his family changing their identities and fleeing.

“I was standing there in that crowd, a loser, and suddenly I saw it: nobody pays attention to the losers.”

The solution Adam proposes to his family takes advantage of performance culture. People aren’t interested in watching “losers,” so if the Costellos sink further and keep their heads down, they should be able to start anew because no one will be looking at them.