“I’ve got a hell of a story, he thought… Not only do millions think the world’s going to end, but millions more hope so. It shows in their attitudes. They hate what they’re doing, and keep looking nostalgically at the ’simple’ life. Of course they won’t voluntarily choose to be farmers or live in communes, but if everybody has to…” (159)
People are becoming increasingly compelled and yes, hopeful for the hammer at this point of the novel.
It can be speculated that the “disaster” of this novel actually underlies the comet and is within the lives that people made for themselves. She is growing tired of having to sleep around in order to keep her job and repeatedly needing to remind herself that she’s not a tramp, and he is deeply unhappy from the pent-up sexual frustration in his marriage, cheats on his wife, and is now suppressing the guilt by repeatedly needing to remind himself that he loves his wife.
People are waiting for a release from daily routine and anxieties. They are living in a prison (you can take it both figuratively and literally) and are so unsatisfied to the point that, after deeper consideration, the idea of a comet blowing up their world is not such a horrid idea after all.
Additionally, as Harvey mentions on pg 159: “but if everybody has to”- the idea of ALL survivors starting over is what is especially satisfying. Social hierarchy will be shattered and re-built upon completely different standards. It won’t be about the number of degrees you have under your belt, but how well you can cope in the wild- yeah…no fridges and no Internet.
In fact, almost all BS that people hold as high importance in today’s society would be nothing amidst an apocalypse. No one is going to care about the $600,000 car you show off to pick up girls behind your wife’s back, where you went to college or grad school with now your umpteenth degree, how embarrassingly large your debt is, or even something as stupid and minor as what she said or what he said. What people are really going to be needing are your inherent, cool-and-calm leadership qualities, or how much alcohol and bullets you have in stock.