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Chapter 63
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
The hostage drama ends without fanfare for the hostages, who are shown out the back of the police station. On the stairs, Zara, Lennart, Anna-Lena, Roger, Julia, Ro, and the real estate agent stare at one other. Roger asks what the police asked everyone else, and Ro declares that she and Julia played dumb. Then, Anna-Lena asks if the robber is okay—she saw an officer in the stairwell when they left, and it seemed unlikely the robber would get into the other apartment. Roger asks who helped the robber out if it wasn’t them, but Estelle gets a text from the robber. She’s okay.
The hostages make it clear that they were purposefully being obnoxious and unhelpful during their interviews because they wanted to help the robber. They also reveal that the robber planned, at least, to sneak into the other empty apartment across the landing, though it’s not clear if this actually happened or not. Overall, though, the hostages’ camaraderie highlights what can happen when strangers get to know one another and learn to listen.
Themes
London steps out of the station a few minutes later, but she’s clearly anxious and lonely. Estelle asks if she’s okay, and Julia asks if she was afraid. Ro invites London to get a coffee. London says she doesn’t like coffee, but Ro says they can find her something else. Julia says that she’ll follow soon. A few days later, London gets a letter from the bank robber, apologizing. It means more to her than she can admit.
Unlike the hostages, London wasn’t in on purposefully obstructing the interview—and yet, she unwittingly helped the robber. Things start to look up for London here as she makes a friend in Ro and gets an apology from the robber. Hopefully this experience teaches London to treat people with more kindness and generosity than she has thus far.
Themes
Julia hugs her fellow hostages, and Estelle says she’d like to give Julia a book. Julia says that maybe they can exchange books in the elevator—she and Ro are going to buy the other empty apartment. This makes Roger laugh, and hearing Roger laugh makes Anna-Lena so happy that she has to sit down.
This scene implies that Estelle lives in the apartment where the hostage drama takes place, which would explain why she knows about the wine, the cigarettes, and the vent. It also suggests that she got exactly what she wanted today: she connected with new friends at what was once a happy time of year with Knut.
Themes
