Word Problems vs Word Problems

Since I accidentally left my book in my dorm my post today is just going to have to relate to the information we've already read. There are so many things to discuss already that I'm not worried. As I've been reading I've been notating the page number each time a new character appears, and it's becoming a massive list already. Many characters are mentioned only one time and incredibly briefly, sometimes so briefly that it seems odd that Flanagan even included names. I sort of think this might add to the novel's mystery and the reader's need to "(sea)weed through" (bad joke) the important and the unimportant details in the novel. It might also be helping to develop the thematic question of "how much are details really important to a larger picture?"

This idea of sorting through importance reminds me in some ways of word problems in math. We always tend to assume that all information in a word problem will be used; otherwise, why else would they provide it? That sort of parallels here because we expect that every small detail the author includes, every name and every event, will somehow all tie together in the end. Maybe they will and maybe they won't, but more importantly I think Flanagan is trying to force his readers to question a) how do small events influence larger events b) is the relationship between details and overall overall meaning as significant as we want it to be. So I'm finding myself trying to understand this book as a math word instead of assuming that what i'm reading is a word problem. In that sense his somewhat convoluted plot and time lines not only contribute to the novel's deliberately mysterious feel, but it also draw the reader in to consider an unconventional literary idea that every detail can serve a purpose while not actually contributing to a significant aspect of the plot.