him in to the police if he doesn't marry her. Sophie, suggests that she and Bardamu should go on a double date with Robinson and Madelon in order to reconcile them. The four go to a carnival but during the taxi ride back to the asylum Robinson tells Madelon that he doesn't want to be with her because love disgusts him. They have a violent argument and Madelon shoots Robinson and flees. Robinson dies and Bardamu reflects that he hasn't yet been able to find an idea bigger than death. Major themes Journey to the End of the Night reflects a pessimistic view of the human condition in which suffering, old age and death are the only eternal truths. Life is miserable for the poor, futile for the rich, and hopes for human progress and happiness are illusory. Céline's biographer Patrick McCarthy argues that hate is a central theme of the novel. Célinian man suffers from an original sin of malicious hatred, but there is no God to redeem him. Hate gives the characters "a concrete, if illusory, reason for their unhappiness." Moreover: "The characteristic trait of Célinian hatred is that it is gratuitous: one does not dislike because the object of dislike has harmed one; one hates because one has to" War is another major theme. According to Merlin Thomas, Céline presents the horror and stupidity of war as an implacable force which "turns the ordinary individual into an animal intent only on survival". It is the poor who always suffer most. Bardamu sees war as simply a means for the rich to cull the poor. Céline also explores the theme of survival in a hostile world. Although Célinian man can't escape his fate, according to McCarthy: "he has some control over his death. He need not be arbitrarily slaughtered in battle and he need not blind himself with divertissements. He can choose to face death, a more painful but more dignified process." Thomas points out that Bardamu learns that although the poor and weak cannot avoid their fate, they can choose defiance. "If you are weak, then you will derive strength from stripping those you fear of all the prestige they pretend to possess.…[T]he attitude of defiance just outlined is an element of hope and personal salvation." Bardamu also finds some consolation in contemplating human beauty and rare instances of human kindness. Bardamu admires Molly not just for