“Rest”, S tells himself. But after a violent, “gestational rock and bounce”, he fully recovers his consciousness and finds himself in a dank cabin that features only a hammock and a ladder. Tidal sounds indicate his position at the sea, and S soon recalls the whisper he heard at the Old Quarter: “What begins at the water…”
VMS employs a wide array of different musical words, such as “baritone”, “percussive”, and “messo-piano,” to denote the circumstance of S. This use of diction is noticed by FXC. In the footnote, FXC writes: “Young Straka was a violin prodigy. […]in the field of nineteen entrants, he had come in 19th”.
The footnote is a breakthrough for Jen and Eric. Jen notices the inconsistency with the use of numerical numbers “19” and the word “nineteen.” Both Eric and Jen agree with confidence that secret codes are embedded in the footnote of this page. Eric writes to Jen:
“You’re right, FXC might be an idiot, but he’s not sloppy. So if we’re looking for things that might be signals”
On the marginalia, Jen questions Eric whether college is supposed to be the chance of rebirth or self-reinvention. When Eric asks her whether she agrees with the concept of self-reinvention herself, Jen replies that even if her self-invention does happen, she has not paid enough attention to notice. Jen also circles the word “rest” in later time (denoted by the use of different color pen) to convey her physical exhaustion on the things she currently embarks on (finding VMS, graduation etc.). Jen’s questioning about rebirth and reinvention reflects her yearning for the control over her own life. Meanwhile, it also implies that Jen is trapped in an existentialist crisis, unable to understand her goals.