Shadows

A moving shadow works as "a sign of tension or danger throughout the novel," and Wallace choreographs light and shade to build dread. The image is flagged on page 5 and recurs immediately, then attaches to specific fears — the Bröckengespenst, where "the narrative focus on changes in light and shadow helps build the tension." It carries the inheritance theme through the long-shadow line — "He cast a long shadow, Jim" — echoed in Hal's "He always did cast a long shadow, you said," and it renders creeping menace in Da's shadow "lengthening across the floor," where "fear is accompanied by a slow-moving shadow and a smell." The motif is finally inverted into counsel — "When you're on your back you don't have a shadow." — so that the same image that signals danger can, flat on the floor, signal a strange safety.