Free Stealing Through Time: On the Writings of Jack Finney by Jack Seabrook Page B

the act of murder..." (105). Ben is not Arnie; he has an intact superego in place to stop himself from carrying out the desires of his id.
    Fortunately for Ben, Nova thinks he is Arnie, and the danger passes. Ben's life in prison continues, and he thinks "I truly understood how utterly anonymous and depersonalized a man became when he entered this place" (110). He thinks of his life outside and his address is of interest: 175 Loming Court, Mill Valley, California (110), in the same town where Jack Finney lived. Finney gives the prison system another plug, as Ben thinks: "The warden of this prison and the men around him at this particular moment in the prison's history, Arnie claimed, did their imaginative and resourceful best for the men California required them to confine" (111). Yet, as chapter ten ends, Ben worries that Arnie might betray him and leave him there, then chides himself for failing to trust his brother.
    Chapter eleven returns to Arnie's point of view and he narrates the story of his preparations for escape, preparing a hole in the ground covered with plywood for some unexplained purpose and then returning to his hiding place in the furniture crate.
    Ben narrates chapter twelve, in which the escape plans take an interesting twist — Ben takes Arnie's place in the crate and Arnie returns to his cell. That night, Ben climbs the prison wall and meets Ruth, who drives east into Nevada, toward Reno.
    Arnie's escape begins in chapter thirteen, which he narrates, as he slips into the hole he had dug two nights before. "I'm in a grave" (130), he thinks, but as time passes and he realizes he will soon be reported as missing, his excitement grows. As Ben told Ruth earlier in the novel, Arnie's sense of self comes from what other people think of him. "You're nobody in prison —" he thinks, "nothing— just a pair of blue pants and a shirt. But once you're missing from Quentin, damn them all — you're somebody then!" (133). Arnie's thought provides a chilling conclusion to chapter thirteen, as the reader realizes that his need for outside confirmation of his identity was at least partly responsible for his need to escape and put his brother and his fiancée in danger.
    The next three chapters alternate between Ben's and Arnie's points of view. Ben buys a gun in Reno, then returns home and carves a dummy revolver out of wood. He and Ruth hear a radio report telling them that Arnie has escaped, and they drive out to the Golden Gate Bridge, where Ruth throws the real gun into the bay.
    Meanwhile, Arnie spends the day hiding underground, nearly going crazy in the heat and becoming consumed with jealousy as he thinks of Ben and Ruth together. Next day, Ruth drives Ben to a road near the prison and lets him out. Ben uses the dummy gun to kidnap a man driving alone in a car and force him to drive to a prearranged spot; Ben then steals the car and leaves the man by the side of the road.
    The remainder of the book is narrated by Ben, ending the alternating points of view. Ben abandons his stolen car and Ruth picks him up. They express their love for each other and Ben proposes marriage. Despite some guilt feelings about Arnie, they make plans together and go home, only to find Nova waiting for them in their living room. He has figured out their role in Arnie's escape and suggests that a bribe will make him keep quiet. When he suggests that sex with Ruth be part of the bribe, Ben unsuccessfully attacks him.
    Ben escapes (or so we think) and returns to San Quentin, climbing over the wall and back into the hole with Arnie. The brothers scale the wall to escape, only to find Nova waiting for them on the other side. They overpower the guard and take him home, where Arnie is crushed to learn that Ruth plans to marry Ben in his place.
    Arnie's life has been ruined for nothing — he went to jail due to his plans to marry Ruth, and he escapes only to find that his worst fears have been realized and his own brother has stolen her