Zachary (2)

''This article is about the chapter. For the character, see Zachary Ezra Rawlins.''

"Zachary (2)" is the sixth chapter in the first book of The Starless Sea. It is the second chapter from Zachary's point of view and the sixth chapter overall.

Summary
Still disturbed by finding an event from his childhood represented in a book, Zachary sits in the closet reading and rereading Sweet Sorrows. He considers that even though the book describes things that are clearly magical, they might be as real as the portion about him.

He takes a walk, bringing the book with him. He runs into Kat, who asks him to help her by co-moderating a discussion group that evening. She promises to knit him a scarf as a thank-you.

Zachary returns to his room and sleeps until evening. He walks to the discussion group, and participates in a discussion about the nature of games. After the discussion, Kat mentions that Elena wanted to talk to him. Elena is the student librarian, and she shares with Zachary what she had learned about Sweet Sorrows. It had been donated by the Keating Foundation from the private collection of J. S. Keating.

Major Characters

 * Zachary Ezra Rawlins
 * Kat Hawkins

Minor Characters

 * Noriko - mentioned, a friend of Kat's who went skiing instead of helping Kat with her discussion group
 * Elena - wearing cat-eye glasses
 * Sarah (as "the knitting girl")
 * Lexi - (as "the girl with multicolored dreadlocks")
 * Blond boy with a guitar case
 * Guy in the blue hoodie
 * Girl with tattooed vines
 * Ponytail guy
 * Girl in a fuzzy red sweater

Trivia and Connections

 * Elena is the student librarian who helped Zachary check out Sweet Sorrows. Later, when Kat is researching Zachary's disappearance, Elena gives her the same information she gave Zachary in this chapter.
 * Sarah is not named in this chapter, nor when Zachary meets her at the Collector's Club. Kat knows her as Sarah, but discovers later that this is not her real name.
 * Lexi is not named in this chapter, but is identified in the subsequent chapter.
 * The Keating Foundation was the organization that worked against the Collector's Club, trying to permanently reunite Time and Fate, even at the expense of the destruction of the Harbor.
 * Kat later discovers that "J. S. Keating" refers to Jocelyn Simone Keating.

Analysis
In terms of the plot, this chapter introduces Kat and progresses Zachary's investigations into the nature of Sweet Sorrows. More importantly, it introduces, through the mechanism of the discussion group, themes that will occur and reoccur throughout the novel.

In particular, there is a paradox associated with free will and winning a game. To win the game is to make all the right decisions, decisions that are predestined by the creator of the game. What's more, doing so successfully ends the game for the player. In some respects, the player wants the illusion of free-will, while they are silently being guided to the winning outcome.

In a sense, this is precisely what happens to Zachary. Fate leads him along the path that will reunite her with Time and end the story. Mirabel makes it plain that Zachary does have free will, and that free will led him to make the choices that he made. Even so, the result of those choices was the end of the story, and the end of Zachary's life.

It is also notable that The Starless Sea contains every element from the list of what makes a story compelling: change, mystery, high stakes, character growth, romance, sexual tension, obstacles to overcome, surprises, and meaning.

Quotes

 * You want to decide where to go and what to do and which door to open but you still want to win the game,... [e]ven if winning the game is just ending the story.
 * Everyone is part of a story, what they want is to be part of something worth recording.