Fatalism

The attitude taken by many of the characters in this novel is very fatalistic, meaning they don’t believe there is anything they can do to change the path their lives will take. This idea of fatalism is seen in a phrase first used by Sir Arthur George Jennings then echoed by characters throughout the novel. When talking to reporter Alex Pierce, the inmate Tristan Phillips tells Pierce quite plainly that he believes there is nothing people like him can do to change the way their lives will turn out.

Jennings opens the idea of fatalism in the novel when he first flips around the common phrase “wait and see” to “see and wait.” Since Jennings is dead it makes sense that he believes he can not do anything to change the course of his life or the course of the events that he sees playing...