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Introduction

This novel was not on my radar whatsoever. It was recommended to me. So, I dived into it knowing almost nothing about it.

Synopsys

The novel tells the story of Scott Carey, a man suffering from rapid proportional physical shrinking. As Scott struggles with his ever-enlarging environment we get a good view into his psyche, way of thinking, and character.

Analysis

To me, this is a tale of progressive degeneration of a man caused by his fear, self-loathing and procrastination by all of which absolutely burden him.

Nobody around Scott recognises his problems' gravity. However, he himself does not recognise his problem as being a problem at all, but rather a deadly curse about which he or anyone else for that matter is totally powerless to do anything. It is thus his own personal spiral into hell much of which is of his own making.

The man is addicted to his own self-loathing and he is disgusted by the everyday adjustments an average person goes through on a constant basis. At one point Scott tells his wife, Louise: "Don't cry I'm not worth that" – there it is, this self-loathing of his. People like that often can't help but follow the path of self-destruction, for if they did not, they would simply not be themselves, but some other person altogether. It is tragically part of their very being.

Therefore, not being able to adjust to everchanging surroundings Scott is left with expectations alike "today should be the same as yesterday and tomorrow will be the same as today". But these expectations of his are nothing but his own future resentments.

Scott has no faith in anything or anybody. Thus, he is unable to summon any sliver of hope or master some sort of bravado. He is being pathetic and people around him can't help but grow absolutely tired of him and eventually stop interacting with him.

While perpetually shrinking, he feels he resembles to his wife not a man but a boy. His manhood is smaller than his woman.

At one point Scott is struggling to get to a cracker to get some sustenance. When he gets there, he finds out the cracker is wet and unpleasant. This is yet another proof that the World never goes according to one's plan or accommodates to any self-loather such as Scott.

While reading this book I recalled the parable of two frogs stuck in a jug of milk. Only this particular frog started moving about way too late ...

At one point Scott acknowledges that his anger of the plight he is in stops him in his tracks. There it was! His temper is his downfall! If only he realized it way earlier ...

It is his temper and anger that make him incapable of considering any options, unlike his wife, who constantly tries to figure out ways to adapt to the everchanging predicament.

Scott suffers pain when he is looking into his past, thinking life was better then. However, he is resentful towards the present. When his wife and him go to a fair, he thinks: «What a freak show I would make siting in-between the two-handed cowand a pig which adopted a chicken». Everything must be about him! He is unable to enjoy the fair; he is obsessed with his predicament.

He cannot stop moaning about the past or the present, for it is the fuel for his self-loathing addiction. And this is exactly why he did not commit suicide. Because he is addicted to the self-loathing and self-destruction the pursuit of whicj he will drag on for as long as possible and that means suicide is out of the question. It is the limbo of misery and dread he longs to reside within.

Being in such limbo is shrinking his psyche just like the fantastical ailment shrinks him physically. He is pondering questions like "Is he an individual?", "Did hematter?". He constantly feels that he is only a fraction of a human being. And this causes his self-esteem to plumet further down the hole.

In the book there are physical manifestation of Scott's character flaws. For example, to me the man who gave Steve a lift, the pedophile, resembles Scott's idea of "Aworld according to plan", "a proper world" as it were. He is a perfectionist, a posh know-it-all, a maximalist who drives him to his doom. Notice that during that episode Scott is literally not in the driving seat. He begs to be let out of this vehicle but instead he continues to be driven by this man. Scott lacks agency in his life and does not seek it and therefore, just like being but a powerless passenger in a car, he will arrive at the bottom of all bottoms of human existance and he will never realise what got him there.

Because Scott is ever so late in his attempts to struggle and fight through any bad situation his resolve is always two steps behind his evolving dread and his self-loathing always ensues as a result. I am sure Scott does not know what is it he trying to get out of the cellar for. It seamed to me he has been falling down a funnel of his fear of life and fear of death. Fear of life gets him down, while fear of death gets him up. And the countdown to when he is supposed to be zero inches in height is a mere demonstration of the fact that self-loathing people like him are aware they will get worst but still go on destroying themselves. Awareness of the shrinking was his true curse not him shrinking psysically. Meanwhile, falling down this funnel, he has been reduced to a cockroach type of creature, lacking any ability to reflect or think ahead. Soon beyond the simple plane of bodily function there was nothing. He is literally just in pursuit of his next meal.

In the process of this degeneration Scott's morals crumble too. Looking onto the world from the cellar refusing to join it he develops sick twisted lusts towards an underaged girl through the overwhelming abstinence from every human desire short of eating and drinking.

And yes, when he experiences and "up" through his fear of death he gets glimpses of true life now and then. For example, at one point he finds himself lost in his work, but fails to realise that moments like this are what makes one's life truly meaningful.

But alas, shortly after Scott suffers a "down" and ends up too lost within himself. Then he is presented with a clear opportunity to be aided by other normal-sized people. And yet he hesitates to the very last moment. Later on, he asks himself questions like "Why did he not try to communicate with the giant?" Well, maybe the case is that he "depends only on himself"? Or that he thinks that asking for help is bad or humiliating?

But hey! Here comes another "up" and Scott thinks that there might be others out there who are much worse than him.

But then we are presented with a memory of a "down". As Scott recalls an interaction with his wife: «He felt as if she tried to make him feel like a boy getting dramatic over something inconsequential while she patiently humored him. He wanted to burst out angerly at her but there wasn't opening». As many people like him, Scott is all about self-pity but becomes mad when others pity him or rather when he imagines them to do so. When Scott does throw accusations towards his wife Louise she simply replies: «Oh stop Scott! Aren't there enough problems without you imagining more». And she is right! If Louise ever did look at Scott as being a boy it was not for his psysical size but for his selfish childish thoughts and words.

Sometimes Scott is not "up" or "down" but reaches a sort of emotional plateau. But every time his situation stabilises he thinks "What is the point?" and slips into a"down".

Reading this novel, one cannot but think at some point "Geez! I bet it was Scott's fault he ended up trapped in his own cellar". And wouldn't you know, not only it was his own fault, we eventually find out it was by his own request as we are told that Scott was removed to the cellar by his wife because he insisted he did not wish to be exposed to a houseguest! He removed himself from everyone's life, so when he got into the cellar nobody noticed. In fact, everyone was relieved!

In the end Scott is completely delirious. He did not vanish away into nothingness, but he is basing his optimism for the future on a premise he deducted from another premise, which, in turn, he deducted from a third premise. To me this ending embodies the phrase "Just when I thought I hit rock bottom, I heard knocking from below".

Conclusion

And now some final thoughts.

Scott's shrinking has nothing to do with his dread and tragedy. It is only there to drive the fantastic bits of the story forward. It serves as a premise for all the adventures Scott has getting his food, fighting off the Black Widow spider, etc. These adventures are entertaining enough. But to me the allegories and the symbolism were what this novel was all about.

But as much as Scott rejected the world and people around him, he received help not evenknowing it. The truth that almost evaded him was that if it wasn't for his brother reassembling the things in the cellar, he would never get out of it. So, it is shown that other people help us and carry us through life even if we or they themselves do not notice or realise it at all.

And if there was an innocent victim in this novel, it was surely Scott's wife Louise ...