Harkness and Violence
Gary Harkness, the novel's protagonist, has an obsession with mass violence and nuclear destruction. He reads textbooks about warfare, and participates in mock wargames with Major Staley. Yet during a football game before he arrived at Logos College, Harkness was involved in a pile-up that killed another football player. He was so upset by the accident that he left the school and returned home. Although he fantasizes about violence, the actuality of it traumatizes him.
Myna's Body
Throughout the novel, Harkness engages in a relationship with Myna Corbett. Much attention is paid to Myna's figure, which is described as large and unattractive. Still, Harkness is infatuated with Myna. At the end of the novel, however, Myna has trimmed down and is more conventionally beautiful. Despite this, Harkness is immediately less attracted to her. There is a deep sense of irony that although Harkness is a football player, deeply concerned with his own body and how it operates on the football field, he rejects another's attempt to improve their physical form.
Taft and Individuality
The novel begins with the great excitement that Taft Robinson, the first black football player to play at Logos College, is arriving at the school. None of the other players know how to act around him, and Gary is paired to be his roommate for the bizarre reason that they are both "northerners." Immediately Taft is praised as an incredible force on the football field, and other players are worried that he will take their place on the team. Despite his standout skill, Taft is not afforded an individual identity amongst the team. When he wears sunglasses at the dining hall, another player informs him that nobody wears sunglasses at the dining hall and that he should take them off. Evidently, Taft is desired as a football player but not as an individual. As the novel concludes, Taft has quit football to pursue the Muslim faith. Everyone, including Gary, is shocked to the point of disbelief and cannot comprehend why Taft would leave football, which is ironic because although they idealize Taft's capabilities on the football field, they fail to realize that Taft's strength and resolve exists in all areas of his life whether or not he plays football field.
The Ironic Failure of Language and Communication
DeLillo makes many references to communication, and the difficulty thereof, throughout the novel. For example, the name Logos College references the philosophical and religious word which translates as the "word" or the "speech." The first irony is that the college's founder is described as a prolific talker, yet when more of his character is developed, it is revealed that he was mute and could only make indistinguishable noises. Furthermore, the game of football is identified as a sport of communication, where all the players on the field must talk to one another and work the plays out. Yet so often, the communication fails and the team suffers. As well, when he converts to Islam, Taft tells Gary that the team's coach, Creed, could communicate on every level with him, except for the central issue of what it meant to be an African-American. While language can bridge gaps between humans, there are ultimately some divides that cannot be closed with words alone.
Bloomberg and his Jewish Identity
Halfway through the novel, Harkness is paired to room with Anatole Bloomberg. Anatole is a huge man, with an interest in philosophy and a bed-wetting problem. He reveals to Harkness that he has come to Texas in attempt to lose his Jewish identity, or to "unjew" himself. He draws many objections to what he sees as the faith's inability to detach itself from the past. Anatole practices speaking in a different way, in an attempt to further move away from his Jewish upbringing. However, the irony is that nobody was aware of Bloomberg's Jewish identity until he spoke about it. By constantly obsessing about Judaism, he is in fact making himself more Jewish just as he attempts not to.
