An expensive slide rule (symbol)
"An expensive slide rule” bought by Felix’s father was meant to be a symbol of success but became the symbol of disappointment. Felix “never learned to use it” and “faked” his “physics experiments, working back from the correct value of g”. He had no idea that he was “on the path to catastrophic failure.” However, back then, when he Felix was young, “anything seemed possible.” Being a rebel, the young man chose the different career and “an expensive slide rule” became a piece of rubbish. Then he had to learn how “to develop a treatise” or “present an abstract.”
Vertigo (motif)
Vertigo is a motif of the novel. Felix’s life was being destroyed and there was nothing he could do to prevent the catastrophe. His wife seemed to hate him, his daughters didn’t even try to call him, what was more the man was “no longer employable” in his former trade. He lost his “moment in the sun.” He was “pissed-faced drunk, sitting cross-legged by the window” suffering from “vertigo.” Felix felt trapped, mocked, used, and abandoned. Probably for the first time in his life he started seeing people who were always by his side clearly.
Celine’s body (allegory)
Celine’s body was an allegory of a cherished dream that was doomed to die without ever coming true. Felix’s logical side knew that “Celine’s body” simply couldn’t have been at as he “imagined it.” She was “also not as clever as” he thought she was. Sometimes Celine was “cold” to him, “other times quite tender.” No matter how beautiful or tempting she was, that girl was an epitome of Felix’s sweetest dreams. Her high-brow friends, who were constantly making fun of him, made Felix work even harder to earn her respect and admiration. Not surprisingly, his efforts were in vain.
