Life after death, reincarnation, and past lives have been topics that are being explored by countless authors. These themes have mostly been explored through a religious lens, whether that is Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. While the religious influences, if there are any, aren’t immediately recognizable in Andy Weir’s short story ‘The Egg’, the narrative itself attempts to explore the idea of life after death. It also explores the interconnectedness between humans and the world they live in, through the main character, referred to as 'You' by the narrative, who has recently died, and his dialogue with God, known as ‘I’. The story's language, dialogue, and narration are carefully constructed in order to exhibit the narrative's ideas on life, death, and the universe. This essay will discuss how Andy Weir utilizes the first-person point of view and second-person point of view in 'The Egg' in order to depict life after death and its meaning.
Specifications on the second-person perspective are conflicting, as some determine it based on the pronoun ‘you’, considering it as a part of the narrative depending on its tense, while criticizing the appearance of a third-person point of view or first-person point of view in the narrative. It can be argued that in order for the second person point of view to exist, one must assume that the ‘I’ coexists alongside it, although it is usually not easily observable within the text, and as such the existence of the ‘I’ within ‘The Egg’, being more prominent in the text, introduces into the story a second point of view, that of the first person.
Andy Weir introduces the first-person perspective at the beginning of the story, although this isn’t explicit at first. God’s voice is the ‘I’ who narrates what is currently happening, and it is only in the third paragraph, consisting of a single sentence, where the narrator says “And that’s when you met me”, that the pronoun ‘I’ is brought into play within the story. There are different schemes and models which seek to determine the agents within a narrative based on who is speaking, who takes part in the narrative, and whether the narrator is homodiegetic or not. Taking into consideration the different methods it can be stated that ‘The Egg’ is a second-person perspective story narrated from a first-person point of view, wherein the narrator has intimate knowledge of the narratee’s actions due to being homodiegetic within the story.
The second person narrative, which is defined not by who is speaking but by who is listening, is utilized in ‘The Egg’ to draw emphasis to the man’s death and purpose beyond it, as well as the void he currently finds himself in. This is best seen at the beginning, where the narrative opens with a one-sentence paragraph: “You were on your way home when you died”. In doing so the pronoun ‘You’, and as such the narratee, is given importance not only through its repetition but by placing the narratee within the story, and succeeding in telling the man, and as such the reader, that they have passed away. Hence, the use of the second person narrative at the very beginning of the story provides us with the knowledge that the man is dead and informs the reader that the ‘You’ is now being spoken to directly by God.
The second paragraph in the story provides a general explanation to the man as to how they died. The sentences are short, the language rather matter of fact, nevertheless how they are spoken is reassuring to the ‘You’ that has just passed away, promising that they are better off dead than surviving the car accident. This form of speech is constant throughout the story, with God not speculating nor being vague in what he says, choosing instead to be direct in both explanations and descriptions of what is currently happening. This in turn allows for the moment to feel like the place where they are both currently, the void within the space that exists between the soul’s death and consequent reincarnation.
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The third paragraph, which stands on its own in such a way that draws attention to the crucial moment in which the only two beings that exist within the universe converge, marks the end of most of the narrative as the story begins to focus more heavily on dialogue. From that point on there are few instances of ‘You’ within the narrative, most of which explain what the man must be seeing, all of which is viewed from the eyes of the ‘I’, or function as a reactionary vessel for him, describing their facial expressions and replies to what he is being told. It is there that we witness more of the first-person narrative and how they view the ‘You’, appearing to be looking over the soul as seen through their interactions, the ‘I’ calling the man their child, and how they attempt to ascertain the magnificence of the man’s soul as well as to explain, as clearly as they can, the reasoning behind the ‘egg’ the man’s soul is currently in.
Through the story, the second-person narrative facilitates the reader to empathize and identify with the protagonist’s needs and wants. It allows for an empathetic reading of the paragraph, giving a quick overview into the man’s life and how abruptly it ended, as well as how they shouldn’t feel worried due to the outcome of their prompt death. The reader as such can embody the perspective of the man and serves as a vessel through which the reader may express thoughts that have plagued people for years, such as: ‘Is this the afterlife?’, ‘Are you God?’, ‘What happens now?’, etc. And the ‘I’, in turn, answers each question, remaining clear and concise as they provide exposition to the ‘You’ and, consequently, the reader.
As a story reliant mostly on dialogue it has very few descriptions of where they are currently, that being a void in between the lives that the ‘You’ experiences and very few actions take place throughout. The lack of descriptions not only perfectly exemplifies the void they are currently in, but also adds to the simplicity and matter-of-fact form in which the conversation takes place. There’s no need to describe the surroundings of the narrator as what ‘I’ is currently saying and how ‘You’ replies are of most importance, and it manages to make a conversation over a grand topic seem somewhat casual and natural. The use of the second person in the dialogue serves to provide exposition regarding the meaning of the universe, all while tying into the idea that the person who is currently speaking is not only the man who has just passed away but the reader themselves.
One of the main arguments within the story is that of reincarnation. The process lasts while the ‘You’ matures within 'The Egg' and provides a claim wherein humanity experiences a state of interconnectedness due to everyone being the ‘You’. Throughout the story, the reader finds out that they are, in essence, everyone they’ve ever met as well as everyone they’d ever met, and that every human being that has ever lived is simply a different version of himself. The setting, in combination with the use of second-person plus first-person narration, allows for a sense of isolation between the ‘You’ and the ‘I’. As such, in the void where both God and man are currently existing and as well throughout the existence of the universe, there are truly only two people, man and the different versions of himself and God. The use of the second person, which makes it appear as though God is having a conversation with the narratee, adds to the idea that in the universe there are only two people, the ‘You’ and the ‘I’, with the reader taking on the role of the ‘You’, suggesting that the reader themselves is one of the many versions that the soul is experiencing.
The story explores the concepts of reincarnation and death in a manner wherein the universe is a single world built for the maturation of the ‘You’. Its language and format are constructed in order to emphasize the dialogue between the ‘You’ and the ‘I’, drawing the attention away from the void where the narrative takes place, and providing an empathetic look upon the ‘You’ on behalf of the audience. Its use of the second narrative perspective alongside a first-person point of view, therefore, serves to draw attention to the narrative’s discussion over life after death and reveal that the universe within the story exists only for the ‘You’, making it so that in the moment and throughout existence only the ‘You’ and the ‘I’ exist.
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