OSAFS: The Epigraphs

We, at the height, are ready to decline.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves

Or lose our ventures.

- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Man, I regret not paying more attention to the epigraphs while reading the novel. It was only towards the end of this epic did I realize how much influence both - but especially the first - have on the course of events and the feelings that evolve throughout OSAFS. 

The Shakespeare epigraph not only mirrors the revolution that occurs in B-Mor, starting with Fan's departure, but also reveals the dangers of sitting so high, so hazardously on top of the world. I also see a relation to the theme/idea of perfection that is ever-present in the story, from the organized B-Mor society to the luxurious Charter villages. 

I found the most noticeable connection between the actual content of OSAFS and the Shakespeare epigraph on pages 356-357, when the narrator says, in response to the seemingly unexplainable feeling of fear flowing through the settlement, "It's irrational, for sure, maybe even mad, but as our recent hopes for B-Mor have evolved, everything else has begun to seem precarious."

We, at the height, are ready to decline.

I loved what Christina said in class the other day as well, about how the second epigraph, lyrics from "Only the Young" by the band Journey, might be the consequence or answer to the first. That "Only the young can say / They're free to fly away." Certainly freedom is another key theme that Lee makes a point of, particularly in the final chapters as things in B-Mor become increasingly shaky and uncertain. 

I wish we knew more about what happened after the last, ambiguous page of OSAFS. I'm curious about the citizens 'left behind' by Fan, and if Fan, young and free, can ensure the "generation wait[ing] for dawn."