Microreading: The more things change, the more they stay the same:
Inevitable Futures and Altered Timelines in “Party Line”
In the short story “Party Line” by Gérard Klein, the protagonist, Jerome Bosch, is subject to countless outside influences, from the societal constraints of his boring office job, to the phone calls he receives from his two future selves in alternate timelines. Although Jerome has aspirations and ideas that are outside of his normal routine, he is unable to advocate for himself and change the course of his future. Because of his inability to go against the grain, as soon as he receives the two phone calls from his alternate future selves where both of them boarded a plane and had their lives drastically changed, it is inevitable that he gets on the plane because the society has conditioned him to go with the flow and not act on outside impulses. This inevitable outcome is presented as a result of conditioned apathy, whose only alternative is death.
In Jerome’s day-to-day existence as an office worker, his urges to behave outside of the ordinary are not reflected in his actions, indicating that he is pre-conditioned to follow a specific set of societal guidelines. When Jerome picks up the two phones that ring simultaneously, he has “the desire to crush one against the other, or to kindly place them next to each other on the desk right side up so the callers could talk to each other” (Klein, p. 921). However, he decides against this course of action, reminding himself that he is an “intermediary” and a “filter between receptor and microphone” (Klein, p. 921), presenting himself as a person without any agency who fulfills the purpose that is set for him and nothing more. Jerome’s desires extend beyond his wacky impulse to smash two phones together. When deciding where to eat lunch, he rejects the office canteen because “it reminded him that he lived in a universe he hadn’t chosen, and as long as he could try to escape it, even if it was only symbolically, he held onto the impression that his stay was temporary” (Klein, p. 923). His negative attitude towards the office canteen indicates that he is unsatisfied with his job, and wishes he had another choice. However, Jerome appears to be fairly well off: he works in an office, has a secretary that reports to him, and he has enough money to regularly eat lunch at a restaurant. Throughout the short story there is no indication that he has children or a family to support with his money. However, he seems convinced that remaining at the office is the only choice available to him, indicating that he has been conditioned to view this well-paid but demoralizing job as his only possible future. Jerome also believes that he is capable of making informed choices, trusting the information he is given rather than questioning or analyzing it. One of his future selves tells him “you always listen to explanations and precise reasons” (Klein p. 924), demonstrating how Jerome trusts that authority figures, society, and outside information will lead him to the right life path, and he is not trained to question the validity or ulterior motives behind the information he receives.
Jerome is predisposed to use the information he gathers to follow the path that is expected of him, so once he learns that in both alternate futures he has boarded the plane, this course of action becomes inevitable. Jerome still believes that he has free will, but his actions do not reflect that. In the taxi on the way to the airport, he thinks “I haven’t left yet. I still haven’t changed my mind,” and considers possible excuses he can use to get out of the situation (Klein p. 940). However, he continues to behave as expected and follows Hardy’s directions as they leave the taxi at the airport. This cognitive dissonance continues as he rides the bus to the airplane. While his thoughts are muddled and panicked “I don’t want to leave,” and “I’ll pretend I’m ill…I won’t say anything. They can’t hold me back. They can’t kidnap me,” his behavior is increasingly straightforward and regimented, and the author uses simple sentences to describe how Jerome boards and settles into the plane (Klein p. 945). Despite his increasing conviction that he is making the wrong choice, his behavior does not reflect his inner thoughts. Boarding the plane, set as a predetermined course of action by the two phone calls, has taken on the role that the menial office job had earlier. In both cases, the Jerome gives up his agency and assumes that the course he is on cannot be altered.
The only alternative to this societally conditioned apathy is death. While Jerome is questioning his future self, who has gone on to live a happy life, he says “If I don’t leave…you won’t exist. That’s why you insist,” the voice on the other end does not counter that assertion and continues pressing Jerome to get on the plane (Klein p.943). Assuming that Jerome has correctly guessed the mechanics of time travel and alternate futures in this world, it follows that if he were to choose not to get on the plane, neither of his alternate selves would exist, since they both came from timelines where Jerome has boarded the plane. The only instance of true agency is from the alternate future self who has suffered a terrible accident. His strong conviction is that Jerome should not board the plane, which makes the choice to end his own existence the only one he is able to act upon. The one exception to Jerome’s lifelong immobility and indecision in the face of danger is his choice to end his own existence, indicating death is the only alternative to apathy.
Within the world of the story, this conclusion is an indictment against messing with the timeline. While Jerome might have been too set in his office routine to consider Mr. Wildenstein’s offer, the two phone calls from the future guarantee that he will board the plane because they speak with authority and make it the only future Jerome can imagine. Although both phone calls attempt to sway Jerome’s decision-making, the story ultimately concludes that apathy and indecision are the default for humankind, and the only alternative is death.
Works Cited
Klein, Gérard. “Party Line” (1969). Trans. Arlene Higuly. The World Treasury of Science Fiction. Ed. David G. Hartwell. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co., 1989. 920-947.
Other thoughts on this short story that didn’t fit with the flow of this paper:
The title, “Party Line” can indicate two things: both an old-fashioned telephone line where multiple people can listen in on conversations, or the party line given by a political party, which their members are supposed to believe without question, much like how Jerome follows society’s expectations and the expectations implicit in both of his future selves’ lives without question.