The Terminal List

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Part 1, Chapter 10

Part 1, Chapters 11-18

Part 1, Chapters 19-30

Part 2, Chapters 31-41

Part 2, Chapter 42-Part 3, Chapter 47

Part 3, Chapters 48-64

Part 3, Chapter 65-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Reece’s Terminal List

Reece’s terminal list is a motif that highlights The Dangers of Revenge and the Quest for Power. The list itself takes on a double meaning. It is a list of people whom he aims to “terminate” first, but it’s also his final, terminal act since he believes that he has “terminal” cancer and will die soon. In this way, everyone who is associated with the list is set for death.

Reece writes his list on a “sacred document,” his daughter Lucy’s crayon drawing. By writing the list on the back of this drawing, Reece can keep a reminder of her with him always. However, the drawing also reminds him that her death is because of his military career. At the end of the novel, Reece notes that Lucy’s drawing has “the perfect splendor of which only the young and innocent can capture” (383). In this way, Lucy’s side of the list represents the optimism of youth. Reece’s side has nothing but revenge and darkness. Lucy’s drawing is done with crayon, a semi-permanent medium. Reece writes the majority of his list in pencil, a medium that can be erased. This indicates that Reece realizes that he may need to change his plans at some point. Additionally, it makes Lucy’s joyful life a permanent fixture, even in the face of Reece’s violence.

Military Weapons

The use of certain military weapons sometimes symbolizes the theme of The Deceptive Nature of Appearances in the novel. Boozer is killed with a 9mm, a gun he didn’t care for and wouldn’t choose to use. However, “[a]n outsider trying to make it look like a SEAL suicide would find it convenient to use the same type of handgun that SEALs [are] issued” (69). Boozer’s hatred of the 9mm is a part of his identity. Reece begins to uncover the Project through Boozer’s murder, indicating that looking past initial appearances into the reality and truth of a situation is essential.

For many important murders, Reece uses his father’s old military weapons. This symbolizes Father-Child Bonds as a Motivational Force. For his first murder, he uses a rifle his father built to kill Boykin. Reece admittedly feels like he inherited his ability to kill from his father, and by using this rifle in the first murder, Reece embodies his father’s final message to him: “Don’t miss, son” (188). He never misses or fails to kill anyone he places on his list. In his final murders, Reece covers up the crime by “[l]ooking down at the symbol on his father’s old Zippo” before tossing the lit lighter onto the gas-covered bodies (377). By using this specific lighter, Reece shows that he is like his father: He has infiltrated the enemy and destroyed them, carrying on his family legacy.

Land Cruiser

Reece’s white 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser symbolizes his originality and desire to return to a simpler time. He does not care that the car is old; in fact, he likes that it cannot be tracked with any GPS monitoring devices. However, the car does make Reece stick out, something he eventually addresses by getting rid of the car. When he has Clint throw away the car, it symbolizes Reece’s full dissension into the next phase of his life: ruthless killer. He is no longer the clean-cut soldier who takes orders; he is now a bearded insurgent who makes the orders. At the end, he picks up an even earlier model of a Land Cruiser, suggesting that his reward for the completion of his personal mission is to return to a time for which he feels nostalgic.