The Door That Cracked Open

Watch where the fury goes: not at the man in the frame — at the ones filming. This is displacement: the psyche deflects the blow from an unbearable target (oneself) onto a safe one. The crowd with its “send it to me” really is repulsive — but for Jacob it is also a life buoy: as long as they are the guilty ones, he doesn’t have to look at the frame.

And yet for one second the defense is late — and he sees himself through others’ eyes: big, bored, pouring a drink over a person as calmly as watering a flower. It is the closest thing to remorse in all eight chapters — and it lasts one second, because slamming the door is faster than bearing what was behind it. Jacob does have a conscience. It has simply never had conditions it could survive in.