Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

The fancy souvenir pens that Wyatt gives away to authors and others associated with his company, Gemini Publishing, are a motif that appears multiple times throughout the novel. When Ernie first sees one, in Royce’s room, he describes it as ornate, designed to look “like an antique dip pen” (127), and very sharp. The pen’s elaborate design demonstrates its significance—both to the story and to Wyatt, to whom these pens represent his business. Their sharpness foreshadows Wyatt’s death since he’s stabbed in the throat with one of them. Wyatt’s manner of death alludes to two aphorisms: “The pen is mightier than the sword” and “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” Figuratively, pens are the “swords” of the publishing world, and they can be wielded in the cause of justice or injustice, just as any literal weapon can. Because Wyatt lived by the pen, he dies by the pen, and when the pen is stabbed through his throat, his own actions symbolically silence his voice. This is a strong indictment of the publishing world and offers support for the novel’s thematic criticism of