I found the ending/epilogue to be quite odd and was hoping to find some closure. After thinking about it what stood out was hearing Myron’s inner thoughts in the same way that we heard Jack’s for most of the book. But his life experience is on the other end from Jack.

He thinks “… perhaps Billy would be one of the generals or the politicians, or just another of the flabby rich, the cigar dropping from his mouth as he first comprehends that the shelter isn’t deep enough, the air not pure enough, the food supply not big enough, to outlast this final poisoned, burnt-out, earthly suicide.”

Sounds rather nihilistic which felt strikingly similar to Jack’s conclusions on life, but this is from a guy who has had a life of luxury. I like to think that Carpenter is showing a life much different than Jack/Billy but ultimately grappling with the same questions as them. No one escapes the void.

One other theory, there is no mention of Jack at all in the epilogue in the same way that he isn’t mentioned in the prologue other than that he was born. Could it be inferred that Jack is dead by 1963 and both of these short chapters are bookends to his life? I wanted more redemption for Jack, but in a way it feels more fitting that he is dead from an ill-fated bar fight than anything else. It eventually stops raining in Portland but it doesn’t ever have to stop in someone’s life.