His insomnia, it appears, is a load of pent up fears and worries which he cannot be rid of. They cloud him into days of unrest until he is in a semi dream trance. When he says that loosing all hope was freedom I believe he means that the hope is all of those insomnia driven thoughts. Letting loose, or crying, is a way to clear his mind of the thoughts, and then sleep. Therefore he is free from the trance in which he lives. When he is free of this trance he can live a more normal life. When he has his freedom he can become more of himself. This is relevant to the rest of the novel because we never know who he really is (until the very end). Its ironic that he can feel this fake freedom when all the while he (subconsciously) is controlling all of his troubles from the inside. Right here I can give more examples, however it would give away the ending, which is where he becomes really free.
But, ironically (as you already know) when he finally is able to sleep is when the trouble starts.
ReplyDeleteNot sure the title of your post is appropriate (we all love Shannon, don't we?).