The Eternal Mr. Harrigan
Mr. Harrigan’s idiosyncratic character is linked the book’s thematic exploration of the possibility of the eternal through imagery. This imagery is presented in different ways throughout the text. A combination of language, habits, cultural allusions, and physical description that by themselves might suggest little speak volumes when connected together. For instance, Harrigan’s use of old-fashioned terms like “foofaraw” situate him as belonging to a generation slowly dying out, but Craig’s adoption of the word subtly suggests some of his more archaic vocabulary will live on. Harrigan’s description of films as “ephemeral” while books are “eternal, or close to it” hints at a definite potential for attaining eternal life while also raising the specter of limitations. Craig’s description of Harrigan’s narrow black ties as unfashionable speaks to the ephemeral quality of style while overlooking the historical record in which narrow ties have repeatedly cycled in and out of fashion.
Craig and Mr. Harrigan
Imagery is used to hint at the possibility of eternal recurrence or perhaps incarnation. Whatever the specific concept, imagery links Craig and Mr. Harrigan in such a way that they become increasingly identical. As indicated, Craig begins to incorporate Harrigan’s quirkier vocabulary into his own. The most obvious example of imagery, of course, are their iPhones. Early in the story, Craig describes the old man as having wild hair like Albert Einstein, and then, later, Craig is cast as Dr. Einstein in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace. The last image of story has Craig seeming to make a decision to adopt Harrigan’s neo-Luddite status toward technology by turning his back on the “chitter-chatter” of cell phones and deciding he, too, can get along just line with a landline.
iWorld
The developing world of the internet is one which Mr. Harrigan has the ability to peer into with the mind of a person who has successfully built companies that do things he has no interest in. At various times, Harrigan engages imagery to effectively convey his opinions on the brand-new world his iPhone has opened up to him. From spam, specifically, which he terms: “the cockroach of American commerce, breeding and scurrying everywhere” to the internet in general which he visualizes as a broken watermain, one spewing information instead of water.” The imagery is coherent. Mr. Harrigan’s perspective toward the dark side of the information age is that is a pestilence or disaster with the inherent possibility of being controlled but that will only more difficult to fix the longer it remains unaddressed.
Text Talk
An interestingly ironic use of imagery is applied to medium of text messages. The easy joke about the cell phone, of course, is that the only people who actually use it to make telephone calls are old people because they can’t figure out how to use text messaging. And those who do still type out entire words instead of using the more convenient texting shortcuts. The ironic twist is the imagery that comes in the form of text messages Craig receives from the Harrigan’s phone buried in his grave. “C C C aa” and “a a a. CC x.” and “C C C st” are the messages sent by the iPhone user so old he’s dead, yet the kid raised on the various forms of instant messaging shorthand finds translation all but impossible. The messages unexpectedly become imagery when Craig finally understands that the message is trying to convey the state of mind of the sender.
