Chapter 1: Section 2: Page 12: Line 26 (131)

 With a loud twang that may as well have been the Crack of Doom, the line around his foot was yanked free of its attachment to the Main Valve, though not before pulling beyond its elastic limit the spring meant to restore it to a safely-closed position.

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The "Crack of Doom" is an obvious reference to Tolkien who was born just a year previous in 1892. Okay, maybe not. But it could be, seeing that it's capitalized, a reference to William Minto's 1886 science fiction novel. No wait! It definitely definitely is a reference to Robert Cromie's 1885 science fiction novel, The Crack of Doom which "explores the dangers of unfettered scientific experimentation" (quote from the Google Book description). The book is set in the year 2000 and is best known for being the first science fiction work to contemplate the end of the world through nuclear Armageddon. The antagonist is also super evil because he's a feminist. So maybe Robert Cromie was also the first incel? The synopsis of the story I read also states that along with feminism, the antagonist is motivated by "other unacceptable beliefs." I wonder if any of them are labor union oriented?

Aside from tying this book into the post-modern world of nuclear annihilation through the casual connective tissue of referencing a 19th Century science fiction novel to describe the snapping of a rope, the part about the spring being pulled beyond its elastic limit and thus not being able to restore itself to its normative and acceptable and safe settings should probably be focused on for thematic reasons. I don't know what those thematic reasons are, exactly, because I haven't read the book. But I'm sure they're a reference to regular, common folk being driven well past their breaking point, so much so that they never truly right themselves again. Like Frost's "Birches" after some boy has been swinging them! Or were the ones that never truly righted themselves the ones bowed down by snow and nature? You know what? It doesn't matter because I got to reference "Birches" (a poem I once parodied as "Bitches" (Oh, you want to read that now, do you? Well, you'll have to ask for it).