The most difficult thing about the power haunt inquiry was trying to reign in all the ways that the single power haunt (in my case, the ATM) related to million other themes in the novel. The novel is so dense that a single paragraph can allude to millions of different ideas. It was also difficult to pin down exactly how the place was a “power haunt” or a “source.” Even Gladney himself didn’t really understand why certain things and places had a mystical, spiritual element to them. Trying to talk about all of these themes within a coherent argument with a logical structure was tough. Themes branch out and connect in non-linear ways.
In writing this inquiry, I ended up thinking about themes in the novel I hadn’t expected to discuss or even find in the passage I was analyzing. For example, I discussed a seemingly random line about the deranged man being escorted out of the bank within the paragraph in which Gladney discussed his ATM transaction. That led me to compare the state-mandated insanity of the crazies in the insane asylum and the zany citizens of Blacksmith who are allowed to roam free.
Yes, I agree that once you got into writing about a particular scene, it could be connected to many, many themes of the novel. It was hard to narrow it down! Also, the notion of discovering new themes in the course of writing is also interesting, because I also find that when I prepare to do any kind of paper, the process of writing itself becomes its own source of new thoughts and ideas.
Ah, I am so glad you mentioned the crazy man being led out of the bank while Gladney is at the ATM. It is one of the seemingly random moments in the book treated with such matter-of-factness. Or the mention of the school being shut down – the issue is never resolved, never further discussed (or at least so far).
It makes you wonder if there is something in this place that makes the instance so normal and is part of the reason that the town has its own insane asylum.