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Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Severance, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Capitalism and Autonomy
Immigrant Identity
Consumerism
Corporate Power and Sexism
Urban Ecologies
Summary
Analysis
About a week and a half after the other survivors find Candace, the group sits around a fire and chats while preparing dinner. Bob asks if anyone has seen Torn Curtain, a Hitchcock film from 1966 known for a particularly long and gruesome murder scene. Bob uses the scene as grounds to claim that, since it is easy to kill one of the fevered, those who are ill are not really alive. The fevered, late in their infection, are reduced to nostalgic habit, repeating certain tasks, rituals, and activities without survival instincts or thought to the world around them. Other members of the group like Todd and Evan wonder aloud about this concept, and Bob encourages the group to think of the fevered like the threat in zombie movies and media as a means of dealing with them better.
This scene echoes the earlier scene where Candace watches Manhattan with Jonathan. Bob uses media to try and legitimize his philosophy. It’s important for Bob to draw a line between the survivors and the fevered, even though this line is rather porous, because it excuses their actions against the fevered and reciprocally emphasizes their group as "chosen." In other words, it establishes an “us vs. them” mentality that absolves the survivors of any potential feelings of guilt over not helping people in need.
Active
Themes
Candace speaks up in disagreement, noting that the fevered are harmless in their semi-braindead state and that the survivors’ looting and executions of the fevered and their homes are more harmful. Feeling sick, Candace rushes into the woods and vomits. Bob follows her and offers Candace some Pepto-Bismol from one of their hunts. In their quiet moment away from the group, Bob encourages Candace to find a form of spirituality to give her purpose—Bob himself believes the group has been divinely selected, pointing to their immunity to the virus as proof. Candace is wary of Bob and tries to let him know as little about her as possible. Returning to the group, Janelle checks in to make sure Candace is ok. Bob insists Candace say grace before they eat.
Active
Themes
