Finders Keepers

“I have never asked myself. Any more than I’ve asked myself why I keep filling notebook after notebook. Some things just are.”

Rothstein here illustrates the mindset of the author in The Relationship Between Author and Readers. He does not understand why he writes; he just does it, without thought to pleasing a specific reader or group, despite how passionately Morris may feel about it.

“The first argument about money in the Saubers household—the first one the kids overheard, at least—happened on an evening in April. It wasn’t a big argument, but even the greatest storms begin as a gentle breeze.”

This metaphor compares the argument between Pete’s parents to a gentle breeze that will grow into a storm. Pete’s reflection suggests that the fighting has escalated in severity and may end in a natural disaster-sized catastrophe. This fighting ultimately inspires him to give them the money, then look for a way to sell the notebooks, in an effort to help them. Ironically, this small act creates the “storm” of the events of the novel.

“The brains that had conceived Jimmy Gold, Jimmy’s sister Emma, and Jimmy’s self-involved, semi-alcoholic parents—so much like Morris’s own—were now drying on the wallpaper.”

This quote introduces the reader to Morris’s lack of empathy, as he does not flinch at the gore following Rothstein’s death. This illustrates the theme of The Dangers of Obsession, as Morris’s obsession eclipses his ability to conceive of Rothstein as a real person, instead just the vessel by which he received the story of Jimmy Gold. It also reflects Morris’s twisted idea of The Relationship Between Author and Readers.

“He didn’t hold his mother entirely responsible for those rapes, but she deserved her share of the blame. Anita Bellamy, the famous history professor whose book on Henry Clay Frick had been nominated for a Pulitzer.”

Morris’s troubled relationship with his mother has a great deal to do with their differing ideas on literature, illustrating How Literature Shapes Lives. Morris is also angered by his lack of writing talent like his mother’s, a frustration that informs his violence toward Rothstein and informing the theme of The Relationship Between Author and Readers.

“Because he made me feel stupid. Because he cursed my mother and that’s my job. Because he called me a kid. Because he needed to be punished for turning Jimmy Gold into one of them. Because nobody with his kind of talent has a right to hide it from the world.”

This quote explores Morris’s understanding of The Relationship Between Author and Readers. He fails to recognize Rothstein’s artistic autonomy, instead believing that Rothstein has a duty to share his work with world, even if Rothstein does not want to. Morris’s own lack of artistic talent informs this demand.

“He kept seeing the brains dribbling down the wallpaper. It wasn’t the killing that stayed on his mind, it was the spilled talent. A lifetime of honing and shaping torn apart in less than a second. All those stories, all those images, and what came out looked like so much oatmeal. What was the point?”

This passage further illustrates Morris’s thoughts on The Relationship Between Author and Readers. In Morris’s mind, the only loss of Rothstein’s murder is his writing talent. This suggests that he sees authors not as human beings but service providers, their only function or purpose to entertain readers.

“Meanwhile, silence your cell phones and turn off your pagers, folks. The lights are going down and this afternoon’s installment of We’re in Deep Shit is about to begin.”

To deal with his parents’ fighting, Pete imagines it as a play, separating himself from the events and removing them from his life. This strategy shows not only his emotional intelligence, but also How Literature Shapes Lives, as he views their fighting as a literary work instead of a real event in his life. It also differentiates him from Morris by illustrating his imaginative abilities.

“The Emergency Fund was thin because times were hard for everyone. And, of course, what was raised had to be divided among so many.”

This quote shows the importance of the setting to the novel. Because the events of the novel take place around 2010, the United States is in recession, making Pete’s father’s injury all the more difficult, as he is unable to find a job in the already struggling job market. The fund that they get from others—others who are also struggling financially—does little to help them.

“He’s a homo, Morris thought wonderingly. He’s a goddamn homo.”

Morris’s thoughts in this passage reflect his antigay bias regarding Andy. In characterizing Morris this way, King reinforces Morris’s lack of empathy and increases implied antipathy for him.

“He knew what the pathetic fallacy was, of course—nature echoing the feelings of human beings—and understood it to be the cheap, mood-creating trick of second-rate writers, but that day it seemed to be true.”

This passage is an example of metafiction, or fiction writing that comments on the act of writing itself. As Morris finds the empty trunk, it begins to rain, which he notes is an example of the “pathetic fallacy”: where the setting reflects the character’s mood. this passage also illustrates Morris’s literary knowledge and obsession with literature.

“Nothing was working out the way it was supposed to, nothing. It was as if malignant fate had come between him and the notebooks, just as fate had come between Romeo and Juliet.”

This allusion to William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet shows the depth of Morris’s obsession with Rothstein and his notebooks. He compares himself to Romeo and the books to Juliet, reflecting his deep love for them but also “fate’s” desire to keep them apart.

“So far as Pete knew, he was the only person in the world who had read the final two, and they had changed his life.”

This passage emphasizes How Literature Shapes Lives. After reading Rothstein’s notebooks and the published Gold trilogy, Pete finds a passion for literature and decides to pursue it as a career.

“I know what happened to your father at the City Center, and I’m sorry as hell. At least they caught the psycho before he could do any more damage.”

This quote is an example of irony and foreshadowing, though it does not pay off until the third novel in the Hodges trilogy, End of Watch. The “psycho”—Brady Hartsfield—will in fact do “more damage” in the next novel, when he manipulates teenagers into suicidal ideation and behavior. This passage uses offensive language to refer to people with mental health conditions and falsely suggests that violent behavior and mental health conditions are causally related.

“But had it really been his fault? Or the fault of that asshole right over yonder?”

In this passage, Morris demonstrates his continued unwillingness to accept blame for his situation. He blames Andy for his imprisonment because Andy did not help him sell the notebooks. He refuses to admit that his decisions to murder, steal, and rape are at fault.

“He places his palms on the ground, as if feeling for a heartbeat. And it seems that he does feel one. It’s the heartbeat of John Rothstein’s genius.”

In this passage, when Morris returns to where he hid the trunk containing the notebooks, he believes he feels Rothstein’s heartbeat beneath the ground. This symbolizes how deeply obsessed with the notebooks he has become and reinforces his twisted perception of The Relationship Between Author and Readers, still not acknowledging that Rothstein was a person separate from his fictional work.

“It’s as if they belong to someone else. He feels as empty as that old trunk in the moonlight. Everything he’s lived for during the last thirty-six years has been swept away like a shack in a flood.”

These two similes—comparing Morris’s empty feeling to that of the empty trunk and to a shack being swept away in a flood—show The Dangers of Obsession. He has become so obsessed with Rothstein’s work and finding the notebooks that, when they are gone, he feels as though there is no longer any meaning in his life.

“The important thing is making sure Halliday knows he’s serious. That he’s not going to be, in Jimmy Gold’s pungent phrase, anyone’s birthday fuck. Even more important is not letting Halliday see how scared he is. How terrified.”

This passage shows the strength of Pete’s character. Even though he is “terrified” of their meeting, he recognizes that Andy is trying to take advantage of him. Additionally, it emphasizes the theme of How Literature Shapes Lives, as he reaches to Jimmy Gold for strength before his encounter.

“In the [dream] that woke him, he opened the trunk to find it full of black widow spiders, thousands of them, all entwined and gorged with poison and pulsing in the moonlight. They came screaming out, pouring over his hands and clittering up his arms.”

Morris’s dream about the trunk is a metaphor for his situation. He feels as though opening the trunk has released the “spiders” of McFarland, Pete, Hodges, his own fear, and the potentials of a return to prison or death as he tries to get the notebooks back.

“Except for the stuff young Mr. Saubers is sitting on, of course. The stuff he stole from its rightful owner.”

This passage is an example of irony because Morris is upset that Pete “stole” the notebooks from the trunk while not recognizing that his own acquisition of the notebooks was far more immoral. Emphasizing his twisted understanding of The Relationship Between Author and Readers, Morris truly believes that the notebooks belong to him by rights.

“Over by the furnace are a couple of good-sized cartons with KITCHEN SUPPLIES printed on the sides. Morris sits down on one of these. […] He drags over one of the KITCHEN SUPPLIES cartons—it’s surprisingly heavy, probably some old busted appliance inside—and uses it as a step.”

This example of dramatic irony provides a moment of humor. Morris scouts the basement as a potential hiding place for the notebooks, not realizing that the “KITCHEN SUPPLIES” carton he sits on contains the notebooks, hidden there by Pete.

“He sent Jimmy Gold to hell and called it advertising! And by the way, who are you to be high and mighty? You tried to sell the notebooks yourself! I don’t want to sell them. Maybe once, when I was young and stupid, but not anymore. I want to read them. They’re mine.”

This quote explores The Relationship Between Author and Readers. Morris believes that the notebooks belong with him because he wants to read them, rather than sell them. It also shows The Dangers of Obsession, as Morris is prepared to kill a young boy in pursuit of reading the notebooks.

“‘Are you going to rape me?’ [Tina asks]. ‘No,’ Morris says, then adds something that is all the more terrifying because she doesn’t understand it: ‘I won’t make that mistake again.’”

In this passage, Morris refers to rape he committed at 17 as a “mistake,” not because it was immoral but because it resulted in his 35-year imprisonment. King subtly reminds the reader of Tina’s innocence, despite her knowledge of rape, because she does not understand the frightening insinuation it makes.

“For years ago, a woman he loved died in an explosion that was meant for him. There’s not a day that goes by when he doesn’t think of Janey, not a night when he doesn’t lie in bed thinking, If only I had been a little quicker. A little smarter. […] All he knows for sure is that neither Tina nor her brother can die on his watch today.”

In this passage, Hodges revisits his motivation for helping Tina and Pete and connecting Finders Keepers to the trilogy’s prior novel, Mr. Mercedes. After Hartsfield killed Janey in Mr. Mercedes, Hodges vows not to let Tina and Pete suffer the same fate. He risks his own life to save them.