“This was politics. It was ugly, it was irrational, but it was preferable to war.”
The narrative delves into the realm of politics and how it is manipulated by those with privilege and wealth. There are several instances where the aristocrats influence the system through corrupt politics to secure their wellbeing. Furthermore, there is unrest in terms of paranoia raised by terrorist attacks and the political tension between factions. Thus, the quotation highlights politics as a necessary evil to achieve diplomacy of some kind despite its crookedness.
“The question, as always, is whether the organizing principle is added to the gross matter to animate it, as yeast is thrown into beer, or inheres in the relationships among the parts themselves.”
The novel focuses on historical figures and the aftermath in the discovery of calculus. Henceforth, calculus as the source of conflict also acts as symbolism to the nature of man and reality. Calculus is a language of change therefore it plays as an allegory to the human experience. The quotation alludes to the matter of change and how it applies to the characters and their individual journeys.
