59 pages • 1 hour read
Dean KoontzOdd Thomas
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Bodachs
Content Warning: This guide contains discussions of graphic violence, extreme violence to women, sexual assault, child abuse and trauma caused by child abuse, child molestation, and death by suicide. The novel also contains depictions of mass shootings and references to terrorism and serial murderers. The novel contains depictions of mental health conditions and sometimes engages in stereotypes about them.
Bodachs are malevolent spirits that embody the novel’s theme of Good and Evil as Connected to Humanity. In the narrative, they primarily symbolize impending doom and appear as harbingers of violence and chaos throughout the story. Their role as heralds of coming evil is a fundamental aspect of their symbolism, as they manifest only when catastrophic events or tragedies approach. Odd is the only character able to see them and interprets their presence as an ominous sign of the darkness lurking in the world. Their invisibility to most people symbolizes the idea that evil often goes unnoticed in everyday life, paralleling the hidden intentions and actions beneath the surface of ordinary situations. However, Odd’s ability to see them shows his supernatural sensitivity to malevolence and positions him as a guardian against dark forces. He stands in for individuals willing to confront evil, even when they are the only ones who see it. The bodachs also operate as foreshadowing elements. Dean Koontz uses their presence to create tension and suspense for both Odd and the reader, which increases over the course of the story. Their number goes from a few following Fungus Man at the beginning to the thousands present at the shooting at Green Moon Mall.
The Fortune
The fortune-telling machine and the fortune it gave Odd and Stormy is a recurring symbol for the book’s theme of The Interconnectedness of Destiny and Free Will. While the figure inside the machine is purported to be a “mummy,” Odd suspects it is papier-mâché. They receive a fortune that says, “YOU ARE DESTINED TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER” (231), which Stormy has framed and hanging over her bed. Because of this, along with their matching birthmarks, Odd believes they are soul mates. While, for most of the story, the fortune serves a positive role, it is also why Odd decides not to warn Stormy away from the mall before the attack. Odd acknowledges that the future is fluid for the other forms of premonition, but he believes the fortune is fixed. However, the machine and the fortune it granted them are not as straightforward as they appear. It highlights the story’s theme of the unpredictability of the future. They will be destined to be together but it will be in the afterlife, which is not what they originally anticipate.
Guns
The recurring presence of guns serves as a reflection of the power and vulnerability of the characters. For characters such as Stormy or Chief Porter, who possess guns for self-defense or as a part of their position, it represents confidence and authority. However, most of the characters that use firearms are antagonists. In their hands, the weapons symbolize their power over others and their ability to twist the situation to their selfish ends. This includes Simon Varner, who uses an assault rifle for the attack on the Green Moon Mall and uses the gun he and his accomplices used to kill Fungus Man to frame Odd. Odd’s mother also uses guns in this way. She threatens to die by suicide with a pistol to manipulate him and his emotions. Odd, on the other hand, refuses to use firearms, which he repeatedly says scare him. This fear comes from his childhood vulnerability to his mother’s manipulative nature. His confrontation with Varner is the first time he handles a gun in the story, representing the loss of innocence for himself and Pico Mundo.
Pancakes
Pancakes are a symbol of the normal side of Odd’s life. Odd’s daily routine of making pancakes at the diner provides stability amid the chaos of his paranormal experiences, symbolizing his yearning for routine and stability. Their comfort and normalcy contrast with the darkness and danger that comes with his supernatural abilities. The pancakes represent his desire for a simple, uncomplicated existence. They also stand in for his life’s more “ordinary” issues. When he is at peace in Stormy’s apartment, he says he is away from “[t]he problems of pancakes and poltergeists” (231). In the duality of his life, they stand in for the “real” world, as opposed to the paranormal world.
Pico Mundo
The town of Pico Mundo, California, is both the novel’s setting and a symbol of the idea that darkness can exist even in idyllic places. It also shows the contrast between the ordinary and the supernatural. The small, isolated nature of the desert town has dual meanings. It represents the confinement and limitations individuals face, both geographically and personally. However, its tight-knit community also reflects the importance of human connections and the bonds that tie people together. Pico Mundo’s coexistence of the ordinary and supernatural highlights that the extraordinary often hides beneath the mundane, challenging conventional notions of reality. For Odd, Pico Mundo is his place of belonging, showing the significance of finding one’s home and acceptance. Although the town faces the occasional tragedy, such as the murder of Penny Kallisto, Odd chooses to remain there because he is afraid of the amount of death and disaster that would surround him in a bigger city. However, this small and idyllic nature also leads the antagonists to target the town. The shooting at Green Moon Mall forever shatters the peace of Odd’s life and his world.
The Crow
The crow Odd encounters when he breaks into Fungus Man’s house is not only an omen of the dark events to come but also a symbol that ties into the theme of Earthly Sacrifice in the Name of Love. Crows are often depicted as omens and messages from the spirit world in folklore. However, their crucial meaning comes from literature. Odd compares the crow’s presence to the titular bird from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” Reflecting on the crow’s presence, Odd writes, “Had I understood then that this shrill crow was my raven, I would have acted much differently in the hours that followed” (108). While the raven in the poem is a dark omen, the narrator’s madness and grief over his lost love, Lenore, is more relevant to the novel. Stormy is one of the victims of the shooting at Green Moon Mall, and she becomes Odd’s Lenore. He only understands the meaning of the crow in hindsight and so is unable to act in time.
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