Welfare and a parent's flat sustain Hlynur's drift
In the novel, unemployment benefits and his mother's flat leave Hlynur under no material pressure to work or move out, and he drifts through bars, television and ironic detachment into his thirties. His comfort without obligation is shown as one reason his waiting has become a way of life. The pregnancy that follows his affair confronts him with an adult consequence, though the book does not settle whether it matures him.