Quotation: “The helplessness with which I suffered its invasion was not the least part of my agony,– it was that helplessness which we know in dreadful dreams” (51)

Comment: I picked this quote because it comes at a moment where I was actually pretty scared to keep reading which has never happened to me before. But even more interestingly, I felt this quote could be seen as a metaphor for the myriad of feelings Holt was experiencing after being denied housing, work, and being starved for days. Before I continued reading the novel, I saw this quote as a great metaphor for when feelings of sadness/depression start to creep in and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

Question: Since we have gotten further into the novel and we know that the beetle is not being used as an abstract construct, did Marsh write that line in the mindset of “this is really scary having a huge beetle climbing on you” or did it mean something more?