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Flashbacks
Chapter 58
Explanation and Analysis—Two Rivals:
Fast Forward and Hammerhead Kelly are rivals for the affections of Emmy, who ultimately chooses the former, leading to dire consequences. The two men serve as foils for each other throughout the novel, and Demon reflects upon their very different personalities and temperaments after they both die following a series of tragic errors at the Devil's Bathtub, a waterfall:
All I could see were the years that body still had in it, should have had. For all the people that counted on his help. For finding some sweet girl to have his kids. He would have been the best imaginable dad [...] Eventually I got him over to the same stone ledge where the other body was. Hammer’s enemy. I hated them being on the same rock, once I had him there. By no means laid out side by side, still ten feet apart, but even that was too close. It felt like the one might contaminate the other. Different materials.
Earlier, Hammerhead Kelly, high on opiates that he received from Maggot, decides to confront Fast Forward for his cruel treatment of Emmy, whom he exploited and later abandoned in Atlanta. At the Devil's Bathtub, Fast Forward dies after falling from the waterfall, and Hammerhead drowns while attempting to recover his body. A distraught Demon notes that Hammerhead was a kind and gentle man who would have "been the best imaginable dad." He represents, for Demon, a quiet form of goodness that stands in marked contrast to the flashy but heartless Fast Forward. Though Fast Forward, with his good looks and magnetic personality, attracted women easily, Demon notes that Hammerhead would have been the better husband and father. The two bodies lay ten feet apart, and Demon notes that he feels uncomfortable with their proximity, as the two men are fundamentally composed of "different materials."
Related Themes:
