Everybody here knew Lew, usually, knew his face, but this morning, being transfigured and all, it was like he pass unidentified.
* * * * * * * * * *
Could Lew's moment of clarity, the moment on the bus where the light changed and he began to see things differently . . . could that represent his crossing the boundary through to another dimension/timeline? Has he literally transcended to a new plane of existence yet again? This new reality is the actual reality of Against the Day where he meets one of the characters already established in the book. The evidence that he's once again found himself in a new version of Chicago is that nobody recognizes him in a place he's always previously been recognized. Sure, perhaps his sense of self and his place in the scheme of things has been transfigured to such a degree that it's also altered his outward appearance and mannerisms. But that's just as unlikely as my interdimensional travel suggestion!
The bottom line is that he's definitely changed in some tangible way, some way that's not just a quirk of his own brain chemistry or sense of perception. His change has had an effect on the outside world around him as well, so much so that he's now unrecognizable.
This could be a metaphor for becoming sober, or for being born again. The idea that it's not just an abstract concept for the person undergoing the change. It's as literal and real as anything else in the world. The idea is that there exists a literal sense of grace that can descend upon a person and change everything about their world.
I mean, I don't buy it. I think people have these transcendent experiences in mostly selfish ways. It's not like my father had his moment of clarity when I was two and he was abandoning his family for drink. No, he waited until I was eighteen and drinking was literally destroying his life before he decided, "Oh, I have a disease that I can't control and now I'm going to get better and maybe my son will still want to have a relationship with me!" Ha ha! So funny.
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