 | Alienation
 | Jacob as the
alienated one in the community. Hank turns out to have been the more
alienated one in his family. (Their conversation in the car about
why Jacob named his dog "Mary Beth" is a good
representation of alienation.) |
|
| Brothers
| Jacob, about Hank:
"We don't have anything in common, me and him, except maybe our
last name." |
| Jacob kills himself
in order in an attempt to save his brother. |
|
| Clean/Unclean
| Hank sees Jacob as
the "unclean" one in the family - uncouth, ignorant,
stupid. Yet it is Jacob who knows more about the family and who
eventually sacrifices himself for his brother. |
|
| Covetousness
| Sarah says that she
would not keep the money until she sees it and lives with it for
awhile. |
|
| David
| Hank and Sarah sacrifice everything for their own
pleasure in an increasingly complex plot and end up losing all they
have. |
|
| Despair
| Beginning scene to
"I was a happy man..." |
|
| Garden of Eden
| Hank is forced to leave the innocence of the world
that he later learns was Paradise. |
|
| Greed
| Hank's increasing
desire and decision to keep the money, eventually sacrificing his
happiness and his family for it, while it disappears. |
|
| Rationalizing
sin/evil
| Hank and Sarah are
able to rationalize more and more absurd evil in order to keep the
money. |
|
| Sacrifice
| Jacob sacrifices
himself "for" his brother. |
| Hank's parents have
sacrificed themselves for him, though he didn't know it. |
| Hank
"sacrifices" the good life and family he has for money
that he ends up not keeping. |
|
| Saving/Savior types
| Jacob kills himself
in order in an attempt to save his brother. |
|
| The Seductive Power
of Evil & Sin
| Hank and Sarah are
increasingly seduced by the prospect of having the money (which
becomes a symbol for evil). |
|
| Seeing/Not
Seeing
| Hank doesn't see his
own happiness until he loses everything. Although he sees his
brother as the "lesser" of the two of them, it is his
brother who was truly connected to their family and "saw"
those relationships for what they were. |
|
| Temptation
| The increasingly
intense temptations to keep the money -- to do increasingly absurd
evil in order to keep what has become less and less valuable (and
eventually worthless/negative). |
|
