Either Or

“I thought there was something wrong with the way the departments and majors were organized. Why were the different branches of literature categorized by geography and language, while sciences were categorized by level of abstraction, or by the size of the object of study?”

This passage speaks to Selin’s characterization: Although intellectually gifted and a high-achieving student, her mind works differently than that of many of her professors and peers. She approaches knowledge from a more practical, experience-based position than is encouraged in formal academic settings.

“Behind a dean’s strained expression you could glimpse some hidden mechanism ceaselessly translating everything you said into an expression of unreasonableness or immaturity.”

Selin feels a kind of outsider status in many of her interpersonal interactions, and this passage is emblematic of that feeling. The dean seems to view students through a reductive lens. Here is another moment in which Selin feels uncomfortable in a formal academic setting in spite of her keen intellect and strong work ethic.

“I picked up a secondhand copy, $7.99, ‘Either, then one is to live aesthetically or one is to live ethically.’ My heart was pounding. There was a book about this?”

This passage speaks to the theme of Literary Analysis and Self-Examination. It is largely through books that Selin learns to understand herself and those around her. This text is one of her primary evaluative touchstones within the novel, and it will be through reading Kierkegaard that she comes to better understand her relationship with Ivan.