Hell, demons and the devil show up throughout the novel at various points. Tyler compares his inner impulses to the devil. In contrast, Bethany wears angel wings for Halloween and Tyler refers to her as his angel. Tophet, Tyler’s video game, centers around a demon avatar that seeks to escape hell. In AP English, the class reads Paradise Lost, Milton’s poem about the fall of man, and Faustus, the Marlowe play about a man who gives his soul to the devil. In all cases, hell can be a metaphor for high school, or for the thoughts that torment us, particularly in adolescence. 

Addiction takes multiple forms in the novel. Bill is addicted to work. Linda is addicted to alcohol. Tyler is addicted to video games. In each case, the addiction facilitates avoidance of home and family, and is away to manage repressed emotions. 

In each case, there is a turning point in the novel where the character puts aside his or her addiction of choice. For Bill, his break from work is forced on him when he is fired. However, the final chapter shows him resting and engaging with his family on the weekend.

For Linda, this turning point comes when she decides she has had enough of the police harassing Tyler.