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Chapter 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Anxious People, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Parenting and Fear
Marriage, Conflict, and Communication
Mental Health and Connection
The Modern World
Assumptions
Summary
Analysis
Ten years later, in the present, the young policeman stands outside the interview room, while his dad sits inside with the real estate agent. The young officer’s mom was right: he and his dad shouldn’t have worked together. She was also convinced that the young officer never got over seeing the man on the bridge jump. Maybe that’s true. The young officer spends his days now working hard, running until he’s exhausted, and drinking. He still has nightmares in which he can hear his scream. Earlier today, the young officer was the first one through the apartment door after the pistol went off. He feared the robber had jumped off the apartment’s balcony, but there was no evidence that this happened.
The fact that the young officer’s mom didn’t want her husband and son working together may add more credence to the idea that the older officer has a habit of undermining his son’s authority—she may have seen this kind of a situation coming. It also seems like she’s correct that the young officer hasn’t gotten over seeing the man jump from the bridge. The young officer is clearly still trying to process trauma that seems to seriously affect his day-to-day life and even causes him to jump to conclusions, such as that the robber jumped off the balcony.
Themes
