"Anton's Last Dream" (short story, 1937)
- Alternate Character Interpretation: All three of the main characters.
- Was Anton the innocent victim of betrayal by Zora and Robin, or was he well aware of their likely affair and just waiting on the perfection of his invisibility formula to detect and punish it? The fact that he used it to sneak into Robin's hotel room with a loaded revolver implies that he knew what he might find.
- Did Zora ever really love Anton, or did she just love his money? If she loved him, was it Anton's patronizing attitude which pushed her to infidelity? Or is she a cold-hearted Gold Digger who never intended to make the marriage work?
- For that matter, does Zora really love Robin, or just his looks and youthful virility? It's clear that Zora seduced Robin and that she dominates their relationship. Robin suggests that Zora divorce Anton and marry him, whic shows that he loves her, but she responds only with kisses, thus evading the issue.
- Values Dissonance: The story was written and implicitly set in the early 1930's, and it shows in a few places.
- Anton's clearly-patronizing attitude toward his wife Zora, especially his assumption that science is his domain and playing in society her domain, would have not been seen as being as offensive in 1937 as it would today. (It does however in-story constitute Foreshadowing of their marital problems).
- The relationship between Zora and Robin wouldn't have been seen as being all that incestuous in the 1930's as it might be today in the modern West. Instead, the psychological horror would have stemmed entirely from their betrayal of Anton.
- While it is suspicious that Anton shows up at Robin's hotel room with a revolver, it's not as indicative of his desire to commit murder as it might be today. Back in the 1930's, it was far more common for men to carry concealable firearms than it is today.
