How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
…it planted inside me an unpleasant, nagging suspicion that Pierre Anthon maybe had ahold of something: that the meaning was relative and therefore without meaning. (20.28)
Twist your brain into an existential pretzel for a minute and ponder this: if the meaning is relative, doesn't that mean that it does have meaning? Does Agnes perhaps have it backwards?
Quote #8
We won the struggle for the meaning, both at home and in the world's press. The strange thing was that our victory ended up feeling like a defeat. (20.34-35)
Again we see Agnes struggling with the need for Pierre Anthon's validation of the heap of meaning's meaning. If victory can be defeat based on individual perception, doesn't that give individual perception—Agnes'sbeing equal to Pierre Anthon's—the power to bestow meaning? (Yes, we know, we're throwing some real philosophical doozies at you here. Thanks for playing along.)
Quote #9
Pierre Anthon had won. But then he made a mistake. He turned his back on us. (23.61-63)
Ah, but it's only a mistake if you don't think that the best thing you can do for the world is die. It could be argued that Pierre Anthon's just keeping it real, and is totally cool with what goes down next.