Odds Against Tomorrow

As Mitchell begins working at FutureWorld, the novel expands on one of its primary themes: The Business of Fear. Mitchell experiences satisfaction in his work selling fear to clients, and his very first interview with Ned Nybuster shows that he is a natural at it. Charnoble is in turn ecstatic about Mitchell’s ability to seem truly afraid of impending catastrophe, not realizing (and perhaps not caring) that Mitchell’s fears are genuine: What matters to Charnoble is simply that Mitchell can make a compelling pitch, generating business for the company.

Mitchell’s excitement about FutureWorld consequently wanes as he tries to communicate with Charnoble. Whenever Mitchell asks for more money, Charnoble is happy to oblige. However, when Mitchell presents his discomfort with working in the Empire State or his annoyance with the intercom system, Charnoble mysteriously disappears. This illustrates Charnoble’s willingness to ignore people’s well-being in his pursuit of wealth and power. Similarly, when Mitchell learns that Elsa had another Brugada attack, Charnoble is wholly focused on the work Mitchell is expected to complete and shows no sympathy for his concern. This heartlessness is what enables Charnoble’s corporate success: Mitchell leverages his logic to combat his fear, but Charnoble leverages people’s fears for profit. His excitement at the prospect of devastation and his indifference to potential loss of life reveal that FutureWorld is for him purely a moneymaking venture; they recall Sandy Sherman’s efforts to create a monetary value index for his employees.

Mitchell’s increasing anxieties about his work at FutureWorld coincide with the drought. The heat devastates Elsa’s crops and inhibits her ability to be self-sufficient. Elsa, already associated in Mitchell’s mind with the absence of control, is now at the mercy of nature. Consciously, Mitchell takes this as a sign that Elsa’s homesteading lifestyle was a mistake. He believes that working at FutureWorld has helped him master his anxiety by allowing him to dig deep into reassuring statistics on the improbability of various disasters: “[I]t was a dream job—it quelled his nightmares” (84). By contrast, Elsa’s letters strike him as full of “despair,” and he congratulates himself on having chosen a more stable path in life. However, Michael must work to maintain The Illusion of Control. His reflection that “the water table numbers weren’t promising, but that was hardly remarkable” sounds more like an attempt to convince himself that he is safe and happy than it does a clear-eyed assessment of reality.

Mitchell’s newfound wealth is among the factors clouding his ability to judge dangers accurately; money creates a false sense of control for many characters in the novel because it gives them a better chance of obtaining their desires. However, this hinges on the assumption that money can buy the things that make a person happy, and Mitchell’s meetings with Ned Nybuster suggest that this is not true. Nybuster can buy any item he loses or pay another person to replace an employee, but when Mitchell speculates that his father could be kidnapped and trapped in a dungeon, he becomes engaged in Mitchell’s pitch. He cannot replace his father and to lose him would be to lose something invaluable. Mitchell’s second pitch to Nybuster is even more personal—Armageddon. Mitchell sells Nybuster the fear of death and judgment, which Nybuster’s wealth cannot protect him from.

Mitchell’s uncertainty about what to do with his earnings from FutureWorld further suggests that wealth is not the answer to his anxieties, nor what he truly values. When Mitchell’s mother suggests that he rent a better apartment, Mitchell agrees, subscribing to another person’s ideas about what matters in life. However, when Mitchell views the apartments with Pam, his fear of heights asserts itself; for all its luxuries, the apartment cannot insulate him from worry and danger. After fainting, he admits to himself he does not want or need a new apartment and gives up the search.