Theme · Book 1, Dungeon Crawler Carl
Staying human
'If we get to the point where we don't help each other anymore, that's when we stop being human.' The book's argument with itself: Carl covers the Meadow Lark signs so no one farms the elderly for experience, is told by twenty percent of a focus group that he is carrying dead weight, and cannot decide whether keeping them alive was a kindness.
Segment appearances
Progression
Carl's line to Brandon (ch. 37) — 'If we get to the point where we don't help each other anymore, that's when we stop being human' — is the book's thesis and the book argues with it. For: covering the signs (ch. 23); choosing the residents (ch. 27); getting Li Jun and Zhang out (ch. 42). Against: the goblin babies he bombed knowing it was a dick move (ch. 16–ch. 18); the courtesans he kicked to death (ch. 26); Zev's focus group calling the residents dead weight; his own conclusion after Yolanda that it would have been kinder to leave them on the first floor (ch. 38), and after Elle that 'this isn't a kindness, keeping them safe' (ch. 37). Frank and Maggie are the alternative and the book lets the Maestro show what it looks like (ch. 43).