Orin at B.U.; punting; Joelle — "who better to assume the stress…"
who better to assume the stress of filling in as anger-object than that dead man’s thankless inglorious sedulous untiring 3-D bureaucratic assistant and replacement, whose own upstairs room was right next to the HmH’s master bedroom and who might, by some grieving parties, be viewed as some kind of interloping usurper.
Context
This is the book's most naked Claudius sentence, and its genius is that C.T. says it about himself. Buried in one of Tavis's endless self-deprecating monologues is the whole indictment, pre-emptively confessed and thereby defused: the replacement, the room right next to the master bedroom, the phrase "interloping usurper" spoken in his own mouth so no one else has to. That's the family system's signature move — the accusation is neutralized by being volunteered first, wrapped in so much "thankless inglorious sedulous" self-abnegation that resenting him starts to feel like cruelty to a martyr. The usurper installs himself beside the dead king's bed and simultaneously installs the narration in which he's the injured party.