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Chapter 14
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
Stepping back in time to earlier that morning, the day before New Year’s Eve, the masked bank robber walks into a bank. However, they make the mistake of choosing a cashless bank—so when they wave the pistol around and slide a note to London asking for 6,500 kroner, London scoffs that the bank has no cash. The bank robber feels very old, mostly because London, despite being 20, acts like she’s about 14. London behaves the way she does because she’s miserable. She has no real friends and spends her time watching celebrities ruin their lives. By now, the bank robber feels stupid and is ready to apologize and walk away—but then London threatens to call the police. The bank robber runs away.
Anxious People takes place in Sweden, hence the novel’s use of kroner, Swedish currency. Sweden also leads the world in moving toward a cashless society, which is why the bank is cashless. Overwhelmingly, younger people in Sweden prefer more modern cash-free payment and banking options, while older generations prefer cash. As the bank robber learns that the bank is cashless, they must confront that the world is continuing to change and leave them and people of their generation behind.
Themes
