Summary

Chapter 5 opens on Ryan in his physics class, in which the teacher is going over Newton’s Laws of Motion. Ryan experiences an epiphanic moment regarding the Third Law of inertia; “while flesh and bones have to obey the push and pull of the universe the real meat of men, their thoughts and actions and utter arrogance, ignores the processes the universe has run on for aeons” (57-58). Here, Ryan is fixated on the repetitive negative behaviors people can exhibit, without a balancing retribution from the physics of the universe. In this moody state, Ryan aggravates his teacher, who sends Ryan to headmaster’s office. The reader then learns the reason for Ryan’s dark mood: his father recently beat him, and his face is obviously bruised, yet “the Law of Fuck You, Ryan…rendered everyone around him oblivious” (59). As the...