Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

This section, which marks the climactic middle of the novel, makes the characters navigate major changes in their personal and professional lives. The biggest change or “pivot” here is Sadie and Marx becoming a couple and the effect this has on Sam. Sadie and Marx’s love redefines the dynamic between the three friends. It also forces a crisis of identity for Sam. Tellingly, the arc of Sam’s and Sadie’s relationship is reflected in the games they build in this section. Marx’s centrality to the narrative—and Sam and Sadie’s lives—also comes to the forefront. The section ends on the verge of an enormous tragedy, again highlighting the role of chance in real life. The tragedy also shows why people like Sadie and Sam like video games: Games offer an ordered, systematic world that is fair.

Sam always resisted the idea of Marx dating Sadie because he wants each of his friends for himself. On learning about their relationship, he rapidly envisions scenarios where he is eased out of their friend group:

Sadie and Marx would buy a house together, somewhere in laurel canyon or maybe Palisades. And they’d get a dog—a big, rangy mixed-breed thing […] and at some point there would be children, and Sam would become sad bachelor uncle Sam (239).

Sam’s anguish is relatable and revealing, framed as it is in terms of material, aspirational, real-world successes such as marriage, owning a house in a nice neighborhood, getting a dog, and having children. Sam, who feels removed from so-called regular, upper-middle-class life, both loathes and envies Sadie’s and Marx’s imagined regular, upper-middle-class future. Underlining his sadness is his fear of losing Sadie. “There would never be another Sadie, and now this one was lost to him” (240).

Sam’s response to the knowledge of Sadie and Marx’s relationship is getting a dog for himself, grabbing a piece of that domestic future for himself. Though Sam tries to play it cool before Sadie and Marx, their declaration of love throws him into a spiral. Sadie and Marx’s burgeoning relationship coincides with Sam’s reinvention. He goes from Samson Masur to Mazer, the creator of mazes. He gains a public persona and tries to use his games to right the wrongs of the real world. Sadie thinks Sam’s changes are a cry for attention; however, they are equally an assertion of a self separate from her. When Sam grows muscular, gets tattoos, and finally, shaves his head, Sadie feels “she would miss the circles of his hair” (259); what Sam and Sadie cannot reconcile is the fact that they are both over 30 and growing up. Both want to hold onto their childhood images of each other, and they resent each other for changing.

Sam’s reaction to his perceived rejection by Sadie and Marx brings out the worst in him and shows the reader why Sadie sometimes thinks of him as insensitive and bitter. Sam criticizes Marx to Sadie, calling him “boring” (257). Stung, Sadie retorts: “Marx loves you. Can’t you ever just be nice” (257)? Marx has always been the hidden force in their trio, the one who balances and connects Sam and Sadie. It is Marx who frequently mediates between the temperamental friends and gets them to work together. He also acts as a voice of conscience for Sam, who often negotiates situations by thinking: What would Marx do? Marx’s inherent generosity has been stressed from the very beginning of the novel, like when he orders extra food so Sam has enough leftovers to eat for days, and how he bankrolls the launch of Ichigo. Sam and Sadie both are attracted to Marx’s inherent goodness. When they move into their new house, Marx and Sadie discover a persimmon tree. Marx’s joy over the tree makes Sadie think: “Marx was fortunate because he saw everything as a fortuneous bounty […] My god […] he is so easy to love” (266).

The two games that take center stage in this section are Mapleworld and Master of Revels, Sam’s and Sadie’s separate, creative projects that mark their branching into mature, discrete identities. As always, the games’ development mirrors the growth in Sadie’s and Sam’s characters as well as the developments in their friendship. In Mapleworld, Sam finally creates a simulation in which he can be himself and which is a better, more peaceful version of the real world. Significantly, his persona as Mayor Mazer in Mapleworld and his real-life persona of Mazer are inextricably linked. The narrative refers to his Mayor Mazer avatar in Mapleworld as “samatar,” showing the fusion between the two selves. Both Mayor Mazer and Mazer have mustaches. “No one remembered whether Mayor Mazer or Sam had grown the mustache first” (251). Mapleworld thus fulfills Sam’s desire for showmanship as well as his need to reinvent himself: As someone with a tragic past, insecurities, and body-image issues, the simulation of Mapleworld is infinitely more just than reality. That’s also why Sam begins to use the game to make political statements and right the wrongs of the real world.

Master of Revels shows the difference in Sam’s and Sadie’s approaches to game design. While Sam’s games want to reorder reality and draw their emotional power from his struggles, Sadie’s games are more high-concept and adventurous. Each of Sadie’s ideas has been about building different universes, whether it is the coast in Ichigo, the dual world of Both Sides, or Elizabethan England in Master of Revels. Sadie quickly tires of exploring the same universe, which is why she did not feel intellectually challenged by the thought of making Ichigo III.