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Chapter 34
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
Jack is interviewing Roger at the police station. After arguing about Roger’s bleeding nose and why the police have notes about Anna-Lena (they’ve interviewed her too), Jack asks where the bank robber might be hiding. Roger says the real estate agent was an idiot, as the plans didn’t account for an extra three feet between the walls. He thinks the apartment and the other one across the hall used to be one apartment, before real estate agents and banks and Stockholmers started jacking up prices. Jack rolls his eyes and asks if Roger isn’t complicit in that, since he and Anna-Lena flip investment properties. Roger snaps that he’s a good negotiator—or he thought he was. He asks if Jack has notes that Roger used to be an engineer. He worked for years but apparently, that doesn’t matter.
Recall that in her witness interview, Anna-Lena expressed fear that Roger didn’t want to be with her anymore. However, Roger’s protectiveness over his wife here suggests that this perhaps isn’t true. Still, Roger shows that he’s the sort to make sweeping assumptions about people’s intelligence and motives, as when he implicates the real estate agent, banks, and Stockholmers for the odd way the apartments were divided. Then, it becomes clear that Roger, like nearly everyone else in the hostage situation is hurting. He feels like his life's work doesn't matter, and this makes him feel useless.
Themes
