"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman

“That is the heart of it. Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning; the end will take care of itself.”

The narrator announces that the story will use nonlinear chronology as though they are directing the audience on a journey that readers can participate in. However, “the end will take care of itself” suggests that the end has already been written and is immutable. The use of the word “heart” recalls the way the Ticktockman kills people—by stopping their hearts—and perhaps implies his lack of a heart.

“He had become a personality, something they had filtered out of the system many decades ago.”

The Harlequin hasn’t been named yet, but the story reveals that the problem is that the anonymous rebel is a personality, suggesting both that he has some fame/notoriety but also that the source of his notoriety is his unique charisma. The use of the words “filtered” and “system” likens this society to a waterworks or city sewer system, suggesting that the Harlequin’s personality is dirty or infectious.

“Even in the cubicles of the hierarchy, where fear was generated, seldom suffered, he was called the Ticktockman.”

The phrase “cubicles of the hierarchy” suggests the bureaucratic nature of this society; the authorities are banal office workers. They evoke fear in those lower down but rarely suffer it. Only the Ticktockman unsettles those at the top.