The Cold Millions

“And lying there, Rye had an insight that felt like a reverie, that, man or woman, Catholic or Prod, Chinese, Irish, or African, Finn or Indian, rich or poor or poor or poor, the world is built to eat you alive, but before you go down the gullet, the bastards can’t stop you from looking around.”

At the beginning of the novel, Rye reflects on the meaning of life and death, believing that everyone, no matter their station in life, is equal at the end. In enumerating different walks of life, Walter repeats “or poor” to place a rhetorical emphasis on the way those in poverty suffer thrice as much as everyone else. This passage also establishes The Personal Impact of the Wealth Gap as a theme, since Rye’s reflections on life and death—and the way wealth influences it—will recur throughout the narrative.

“‘For if you gaze long enough into an abyss—’

‘The abyss gazes back,’ Early said. ‘And that’s me, friend. The abyss smiling back.’”

Early Reston is characterized by this allusion to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his 1886 book Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzsche’s quote elaborates on the warning that men may become monsters in the process of fighting them, which Early seems to embrace in his self-description. Early later modifies the quote to say that he is not only the abyss gazing back, but “smiling” back, suggesting that he delights in his darkness, foreshadowing his later reveal as an antagonist.