Money 2

John Self crafts his own world within the language he meticulously devises. For example, in any passage you can find him developing his vision of the world through his unorthodox logic. On page 64 John examines how the rising demands of real-estate effect parking availability which in turn creates a shift in social thought:

“You just can’t park round here any more. Even on a Sunday afternoon you just cannot park round here any more. You can doublepark on people: people can doublepark on you. Cars are doubling while houses are halving. Houses divide, into two, into four, into sixteen. If a landlord or developer comes across a decent-sized room he turns it into a labyrinth, a Chinese puzzle. The bell-button grills in the flakey porches look like the dashboards of ancient spaceships. Rooms divide, rooms multiply. Houses split -- houses are tripleparked. People are doubling also, dividing, splitting. In double trouble we split our losses. No wonder we’re bouncing off the walls.”

In a carefully constructed meditation, John raises doubt of the public due to an increase in domestic populations. More interestingly, the lack of parking space is what initiates this thought. Because “you just can’t park round here any more,” or rather, because John can’t conveniently park any more he studies the cause and effect of local real estate. Things are doubling, tripling, dividing, multiplying, and splitting. As his neighborhood increases in population, John describes the consequences which appear to be negative chiefly towards him and him alone. Indeed, his narcissism reveals real truths of the real world. Though this thought was born only as a direct result of John feeling threatened that people can double park on him as he informs us that "people can double park on you" the reader. On the contrary, he persuades us to agree with him as he skillfully covers his own conceitedness.