Major Themes Of Fear In Graham Mcnee's 'Acceleration'

Fear is an emotion that is aroused by thinking that you are in danger or likely to be harmed. Often people let fear dominate their lives. In the novel of “Acceleration” by Graham Mcnee fear is one of the major themes. It is what drives Duncan to have flashbacks when he didn’t save the girl from drowning, to save the three girls being stalked by Roach and being too overprotective of Kim. Fear drives Roach to kill animals, set fires and stalk three woman. It also drives Wayne to breaking and entering, getting pushed around and makes a joke out of everything.

Duncan is a seventeen year old boy who works at the TTC during summer break. In the previous summer Duncan and his friends went to Kayuga beach. He was swimming at the bottom of the

“ He used the fear of his grandmother’s power and domination that she had over him, to get revenge and used his fear against other people. He used it to gain power, to make himself feel unstoppable and dominant. He started to kill mice and cats. (pg.47) “ On March 14, two cats were found hanging from lengths of chain, nailed to telephone poles in a back alley of Wilson Heights.” He also recorded the drowning times that it takes ten week old mice to die in different liquids like water, windex, and gasoline. Roach then started to set fires on various buildings. He set fires on hotel’s and also a book store. “ ARSON SUSPECTED IN USED BOOK STORE FIRE.” He wrote in detail about the amount of first responders that showed up at the fire. “ Maybe thirty cops and firemen responding.” After he set more fires, Roach decided to do something bigger. He moved past all the (pg.47) “kids stuff.” He started looking for woman. (pg.47) “ Been hunting. Riding the subway, searching the faces for the right one. All the pretty ladies sitting across from me. It’s like an audition. A cattle call.” He has three contestants Cherry, Bones and Clown. Roach listed details about each one by following them home, observing them on the subway, and recording their subway stops and

He stops himself from being able to have a good life. He does this by breaking and entering with Duncan. Wayne convinces Duncan to break an entry by telling him that they aren’t really stealing and they will make good money by taking the toilet. “ Easy money. Nobody gets hurt. Nobody even owns the stuff really. How could it be stealing?” Wayne is not only convincing Duncan that it’s okay to steal if no one owns it but he's also convincing himself. They did break in and retrieved the toilet but they were stopped by the police.