Oil

A film of oil covers everything in U.’s dream on the plane, and is symbolic of the difficulty people have seeing through to - and handling - the truth. This is seemingly demonstrated by U.’s conversation with a fellow passenger, in which he speaks about the origin of the word “tragedy.” The fellow passenger, not satisfied with the direction of the conversation, leaves to go elsewhere, but in reality has broken away to find the truth which cannot be found among the people only concerned with staring at screens. U. then has a dream where everything is covered by oil, which masks vision and therefore masks the truth of things. It is also later illustrated by U.’s own inability to see through to the truth of things.

Ventilation system voices

Ventilation system voices are heard by U. while working in the basement near...