Get Lost in Sawyer's Bookshelf

Episode appearances:
Season 6, Episode 8: "Recon"
Season 2, Episode 15: "Maternity Leave"

In Season 2, Episode 15, "Maternity Leave," Sawyer is reading Lancelot by Walker Percy as Kate comes to borrow a gun from him. From a hospital bed, Lancelot's title character tells the story of the rage and jealousy that led him to kill his unfaithful wife by blowing up their house. The book culminates with Lancelot recounting how he set the fire to kill his cheating wife and her new lover, Jacoby (Jacob, perhaps?). Lancelot ends up in a mental institution haunted by memories that blur the lines between reality and the past. Lancelot alludes directly to Kate's story as seen in "What Kate Did"—she murders her father by blowing up the house where he is sleeping. It also brings to mind Sawyer's storyline—his father killed his mother and then himself.

Lancelot blurs the lines between sanity and madness—as well as the morality of our decisions and emotions. As Lancelot Lamar says to his friend Percival, "You must decide...for yourself."