LitCharts (2024)

All the characters within the novel are connected in unexpected ways, even when their lives are separate and they don’t ever meet on earth. Eddie barely remembers the Blue Man, and yet he caused his death and became a memorable part of the Blue Man’s understanding of his own life on Earth. Eddie’s time in the war was marked forever by his haunting memory of a shadow in the village fire he started, which he hoped wasn’t a human. Yet in death, when he learns that the shadow was a little girl named Tala, and that he did kill her, he also learns that she was the one who saved him and brought him to heaven. Eddie never met Ruby during his life, as she was much older and they weren’t directly related, but the amusem*nt park where Eddie works all his life, Ruby Pier, was built for Ruby by her husband. Ruby feels connected to Eddie, as she was present in the shared hospital room when Eddie’s father died. After Ruby died, she watched Eddie from heaven, and feels connected to the pain Eddie and others experienced at Ruby Pier, as she feels responsible for the park’s existence.

Another important thing Eddie learns about human connection is that connections made in life remain after death, through memory as well as the connection between heaven and earth. Eddie feels alone after the death of his wife, Marguerite, but when he meets her in heaven she compels him to see that their connection wasn’t severed after death—only transformed. “Lost love,” she tells him, “is still love.” While Eddie’s memories of his father’s abuse haunt him throughout his life, his memories of his mother’s love and warmth stay with him as well. Indeed, Eddie’s memories of those he loves keep him company even after those loved ones have died. In this context, connections that seem insignificant take on great meaning. Eddie’s relationship with his co-worker Dominguez may seem professional, but after Eddie’s death, Dominguez is the person who best keeps Eddie’s memory alive on Earth.

An important part of the interconnectedness of human life is, Eddie learns, the necessity of sacrifice. If everyone is connected, then almost any action can cause suffering to someone else, but one’s own suffering is also often a necessary part of helping someone else. The Blue Man doesn’t lament that he died after trying to avoid crashing into Eddie, who ran in front of the Blue Man’s car as a child. Rather, the Blue Man sees his death as a sacrifice that allowed Eddie to live. Similarly, the Captain doesn’t regret dying while saving his unit from captivity, and he tells Eddie not to feel sorry for himself for losing his leg in the war. He tells him, “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.” The Captain chooses to make his heaven the peaceful rejuvenation of the jungle battleground—as if heaven means knowing that his earthly sacrifices led to peace and new life for others. Making a sacrifice for someone else thus more deeply entwines the fate of the giver with the receiver, creating a special connection that survives even after death.

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