the universe

Of all the themes present throughout the novel, the most pressing is the one about “the universe.” In the very first chapter, Ben goes out with his friends and has an incident that makes him immediately reach for the universe as an explanation. He goes somewhere that was significant with him and Arthur, and Ben and his friends run into a wedding. That wedding is of the postal worker whose flash-mob proposal separated Ben and Arthur when they first met. This combination of factors leads Ben to think the following: “It’s like the universe is flashing Arthur Seuss’s name in Broadway neon lights” (15). This then leads Ben to check Arthur’s Instagram, which he has not looked at much since Arthur’s reunion with his boyfriend. There he sees a postcard that Ben sent Arthur, posted to Arthur’s Instagram page. The postcard...