Themes

The story pays homage to the Homeward Journey trope and is organized around some key elements of the Odyssey. It goes to some pains to re-focus the Homer epic through a set of modern filters; exploring the random influences of personality in isolated groups; and the power shifts that can occur based on who controls the security or resources. It also observes the interdependence of modern society on technology and our linked infrastructure from food stuffs to communication. Paramount to the story is the underlying exploration of gender roles in contemporary society. It identifies the shift of the male role in the marriage and family and his awkwardness in the new family paradigm. This new class arrangement is present in a culture in which women have gained ground following the defeat of the ERA amendment, and the decline of the entitled white male in the face of the emerging woman.

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A principle theme repaints the role of Odysseus as he is contrasted against the image of the faultless Penelope. Neither character can withstand the idealistic nature of their character trope and fail in their roles in predictable ways. Throughout history Odysseus has paid little to the debit of his transgressions against his marriage. In this story, Daniel as Odysseus must account for the fact that; only as a failing husband would he rather trundle off to war and adventure. In the story, Daniel is not an apologist for the new man, but rather he is clinging to the masculine role of man who is, at least, cognizant of the idea that male and female roles have changed. Daniel is rather critical of the new prescription as he doesn’t feel that it was as attractive to women as they thought it would be.

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The story is written from a severe singular First person perspective. The narrator is not the stories protagonist, but is trapped in his perspective throughout the story. The narrator does not always know what is in the characters mind, although his thoughts occasionally bleed through and into the telling as though he were watching the transcription and speaking over the author’s shoulder to limited effect. This method demonstrates a departure from many dystopian storylines in which the conditions are presented to the reader from an omniscient perspective on one hand, or hidden prejudicially in others. In the best of these stories; Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood hides the nature of the depopulation of the world from the reader, but in fact, Snowman has full knowledge of the history of his current condition throughout the telling, sharing the whole story only at the end. More likely to the common man in this scenario, the main character must struggle along with the reader to uncover the full details of his own story. In Oryx, Snowman is a convenient narrator. In this telling we encounter a common man who can only decipher the story with the evidence he is able to uncover, and without collusion, this task would become insurmountable.

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The story is set in the present day.