Society often places value on the behavior, achievements, and accumulation of material goods of a human being when judging a life. A rich man with many material items left behind is often considered a person who lived a very good life. A man who is unhoused, by contrast, leaves behind evidence of a life that is considered inconsequential and even embarrassing. A celebrity might be revered because of their body of work and their charitable contributions, while a single parent might be viewed as ineffectual if they chose their family over ambition. There are varying degrees of a life lived by a person that might be judged, but if a person dies with little to show for their life, i.e., money or material things, they are often considered to have lived an unimportant life.

In this novel, Eddie believes his life is unimportant because he failed to become the engineer he dreamed of being and he never left his hometown. He moved back into his childhood home and worked the same job his father worked for many years before him. It felt like he was stuck in a life he’d criticized when it was his father’s life. Eddie believes that he was ignored by God and that he made no real impact on the world around him in his lifetime.