Nobody's Fool

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use and death.

“But I will always wonder what my life would have been like if I had just stuck to the itinerary and gone with them to Sevilla.

I wonder what your life might have been like too.

Maybe it would have changed everything for you too. I don’t know.

I’m stalling, Anna.”

Sami recalls his traumatic memory of Anna’s supposed murder at his hands on the Costa del Sol. As Sami wonders how different his life would’ve been had he left Anna like he was supposed to, he foreshadows that this moment completely altered the course of his life. The direct address to Anna underscores how painful the memory is for Sami, as he claims to be “stalling” so he can avoid confronting the traumatic event.

“It can’t be Anna.

It makes no sense.

And yet, in another way, it might explain everything.

It is funny how fast your perception changes. I’m already accepting that what I’ve believed for the past quarter century was wrong.”

Sami sees a woman he thinks is Anna, alive and well, in the back of his criminology class. The vision makes Sami doubt his memory, while at the same time, it illuminates all his questions about his past. This quotation highlights The Difference Between Appearance and Truth, since Sami trusts his intuition in identifying Anna despite contradicting what he believes is the truth.

“‘It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.’

In short, keep your mind open. Don’t theorize too fast. Wait until you know more.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

The first half of this quotation comes from a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle—hence the 19th-century diction. Sami frequently quotes the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, both to his class and to himself, to explain the best methods for investigative work. In this moment, Sami’s shock at Anna’s reappearance surpasses his rationality, prompting him to come up with wild theories about how Anna could be alive.