Sea of Tranquility

“He’s on his way to a different world.”

At the beginning of the novel, Edwin travels from England to Canada. This movement to a “different world” reflects other movements between worlds, such as from the earth to moon colonies and to the Far Colonies. This introduces The Nature of Home and Exile.

“Could he learn to draw? He has time and money. It’s as good an idea as any.”

Edwin, a man of leisure due to his remittance, decides to take up drawing in Canada. This is part of the motif of the arts, connecting him to the violinist (Alan/Gaspery), the writer (Olive), and the videographer (Vincent). While Edwin does not draw the anomaly, he writes about it in a letter, using cursive, which is an art that Gaspery does not initially recognize.

“How could she have fallen out of love with Louisa so suddenly, so cleanly? How could the man in the tunnel in Ohio have surfaced all these years later in New York? How could Vincent be dead?”

Here, Mirella contemplates losing her passion for her girlfriend, which is connected to learning a woman she was attracted to years ago (Vincent) is dead. Her changing emotions are also due to the unsettling experience of encountering a time traveler at two different times in two different locations. Mirella knows Gaspery’s future because it is part of her past, but she never learns that he is a time traveler and thus doubts her childhood memories.