Sofia’s laptop is a complex symbol in the text, as it represents Sofia’s life, her studies, and her difficult relationship with time and complacency. It also generates the motif of Sofia reflecting on the stars, which she looks at on her screensaver rather than in the night sky. The novel opens with Sofia saying that her laptop is broken, and “so am I” (1), but that it is not worth repairing because she would need to send it away. In this sense, Sofia is already on a trip to repair herself, even if the laptop will remain broken.

The laptop contains her unfinished thesis, which is a representation of her professional goals, which are put on hold to care for Rose. Sofia thus needs to repair herself to continue pursuing her own interests, and Rose is the obstacle standing in her way like the broken screen. Despite the damage to the screen, Sofia continues to use the laptop, as shown in her reading of Alexandra’s email, which layers this symbol with the imaginary, since the laptop is not truly broken beyond use.

The screensaver on the laptop serves as a separate symbol, though it is inevitably tied to the primary symbol of the laptop itself. The screensaver shows constellations, and Sofia mentions how thinking about or looking at these constellations often causes her to “slip” out of time. The constellations are a representation of her complacency in her life, in which she does not seek out real experiences, preferring to imagine them in her mind. The motif of Sofia comparing other sights and experiences to the constellations is a signal to the reader that Sofia is pausing her growth or returning to stagnation. For example, Sofia thinks about the constellations while having sex with Ingrid, marking how her relationship with Ingrid is not progress in and of itself. Instead, it is a steppingstone toward greater understanding.