#when i say i am always in trb chapter 2 i really really mean it

[friendofcars]

one of my favorite things about trb is the way after blue and gansey find noah's corpse the chapters start to feel like darker reflections of earlier ones. the contrasting tone and circumstances of chapters 2 and 33 work to support the gansey = camaro metaphor as well as emphasize the importance of gansey's relationships with ronan and adam.

chapter 2: the camaro breaks down in henrietta, whelk drives by and presumably ignores gansey, and ronan and adam arrive to help both gansey and the camaro refuel. it's midday, the sun is strong, and the car radio plays music. adam helps gansey get the car running, but warns that the fix is temporary and the issue will return.

chapter 33: the camaro breaks down outside henrietta, whelk drives by and stops to confront gansey, and gansey is alone. it's nighttime and dark, with the only illumination coming from artificial sources, and the radio has stopped working.

in the latter chapter, gansey is alone with the upset roar of the engine, which is to say the upset roar of his thoughts. in light of his insomnia, gansey's anxiety is probably also louder at night, hence blue "making him quiet" during their midnight phone calls. and while this next observation is more speculative, ronan is continually linked with music, tapes, recordings, sound, etc. here, when the radio has stopped working, ronan is both malfunctioning and absent from gansey's side. gansey's current resentment stems from having to compromise his principles to save ronan from expulsion (from both aglionby and monmouth), and it reaches a breaking point when he can't bring himself to seek catharsis via ronan-like recklessness. he is stuck. with no ronan and adam to help gansey sort through his restless and cluttered thoughts, he's left alone with the sound of the failing engine and his frustrated mind. without ronan's encouragement to take risks, without adam's analysis of gansey's current predicament, the engine (and gansey's brain) remains a stagnant "enigma." to break down, in all senses of the phrase, is more harrowing without the illumination and warmth of the sun, of friends.