The Book of Job appears in the book once, just before the epilogue. It references chapter 17, lines 11 to 16, including the quotes "my days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thought of my heart" and "And where now is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?"
The words precede a dream that Mikal has that takes place at his brother, Gary Gilmore's, trial. In the dream, he takes the stand to tell the court how Gary was abused as a child. The court refuses to accept this as a reason for his crimes and instead decide that Gary's daughter has been contaminated by him and must die as well. Gary can stop her death by withdrawing his appeal to be executed, but he doesn't, because in Mikel's view—in the dream at least—he wants to "win his own end."
In this context, the words from The Book of Job seem to symbolize the writer's loss of innocence. Perhaps due to the problems in his family, he could only ever view life as a hard and dark experience. As it says in The Book of Job, "I have made my bed in the darkness."
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