Change

Change is an important theme in the novel “10:04” by Ben Lerner. Change, both figurative and literal, affects the narrator and the plot of the novel in various ways. Change is something that comes to preoccupy the mind of the narrator, and to help inform other themes in the novel.

The narrator of the novel first becomes apparent of change early on. He feels as if things are changing around him in New York City, and he is powerless to affect those changes in any way, shape, or form. At first, he can’t quite determine what exactly has changed, but knows that something in reality around him has shifted. Likewise, he considers the idea that multiple futures may come out of present circumstances, each triggered by changes. Time alone is a change, he knows, which means that things will happen no matter what.

The narrator learns...