Psychology · Chapter 9 · Jacob: power & repression
A Debt Going Out
Debt as a reversal of power
“now Jacob was in his debt” Everyone always owed Jacob; debts running the other way simply did not exist in his world. Now he owes — and to whom: the one he considered a thing. A debt is the creditor’s power: unpaid, it hangs like a hand on the throat, and only the one who gave can lift it.
But worse than the debt burns the “why”. An unknown motive cannot be controlled, and control is the only pillar of Jacob’s self. So the author swaps them once more: now it is Jacob who lives in Simon’s old condition — in constant expectation of the next incomprehensible move.
