I can't believe I'm just figuring this out now.

[QUOTE=Nosnorb;975034]I've got 89 pages left, and It just occurred to me what the moons and suns next to peoples' names mean. I feel so stupid, but it makes so much sense. For the longest time I had been trying to figure it out, but I'm glad I finally got it.

A sun denotes a Daytimer.
A moon denotes a Nighttimer.

I really like how Chuck labeled himself as a Nighttimer.[/QUOTE]

Oh my gosh, it took me MUCH longer than that to figure it out!! I felt so stupid too! I feel much better now.

that's one of the things that bugged me about the book is there was no discernible difference between the two.
Yeah, you could argue that it just shows there was no difference between daytimers and nighttimers and it's pointless to segregate them like that but then why go to all the trouble of putting the little suns and moons next to there name? Just mention which they are and move on.
I dunno

It would've been helpful to know earlier on, for sure. I didn't even realize that "daytimers" and "nighttimers" was an actual, "legal" "governmental" thing in the book until over halfway into it.

I also didn't get why they bothered labeling people in Middleton as daytimers or night timers
From the way I read it the segregation only applied to the big city-folk

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;975332]I also didn't get why they bothered labeling people in Middleton as daytimers or night timers
From the way I read it the segregation only applied to the big city-folk[/QUOTE]

Yes!! I totally thought that too. I thought the government was only monitoring it in the city. And everyone seemed to be hanging out for the halloween thing together and went to school together in Middleton. But... did Rant become a nighttimer instantly or are you born that way? Ahh, I don't know.

It was for population control, right? So that there would be enough room for everyone, and jobs, etc.

Yeah, they mention that there was a "conspiracy" or a "theory" to not make Party Crashing illegal because is was a way to get the skeezy nighttimers out of the world. Nobody would miss them anyway. Supposedly.

I think everyone got a sun or a moon, just to go with the flow of that theme. Everyone in Middleton is a Daytimer. Rant chose to become a Nighttimer when he came to the city.

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;975332]I also didn't get why they bothered labeling people in Middleton as daytimers or night timers
From the way I read it the segregation only applied to the big city-folk[/QUOTE]

Because most of the story is written afterward, when the emergency health act was in affect. So I think that everyone in the country was assigned either night or day.

[QUOTE=MrENasty;977638]Because most of the story is written afterward, when the emergency health act was in affect. So I think that everyone in the country was assigned either night or day.[/QUOTE]

But [i]everyone[/i] in the country was listed as "day-timer."

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;977784]But [i]everyone[/i] in the country was listed as "day-timer."[/QUOTE]

With the nighttimer daytimer thing, it could parallel regular segregation that occured in the past..or even today. In smaller towns, say something like Middleton, it may only be populated with a certain race or in that case, daytimers. By making everyone in Middleton daytimers it just adds effect to the idea of segregation of the two in general.

I just figured that out now...

I need to be more observant. My wife is always on my back about that.

[QUOTE=Negative Infinity;978476]With the nighttimer daytimer thing, it could parallel regular segregation that occured in the past..or even today. In smaller towns, say something like Middleton, it may only be populated with a certain race or in that case, daytimers. By making everyone in Middleton daytimers it just adds effect to the idea of segregation of the two in general.[/QUOTE]

I understood the social commentary part of it. But it still didn't make a ton of sense as to [I]why[/I] (in the plot) it was there.

I finished the whole book and still did think of what the sun and the moon meant. But I knew the answer would be on here somewhere and I was right, the cult is amazing. Also I thought it was a great touch when Chuck labeled himself as a night-timer.

[QUOTE=coryc001;979449]I finished the whole book and still did think of what the sun and the moon meant. But I knew the answer would be on here somewhere and I was right, the cult is amazing. Also I thought it was a great touch when Chuck labeled himself as a night-timer.[/QUOTE]

Be careful with thinking that.
Half of us don't know what we're talking about and the other half is usually bullshitting.

Hahaha. So true. But we like to pretend that we know something!

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;979652]Be careful with thinking that.
Half of us don't know what we're talking about and the other half is usually bullshitting.[/QUOTE]

HA!

As for why Middleton residents have designations, my take on it was that though I-SEE-U is not enforced in a town that small, it would be if they moved to a larger town. So if you're tagged a "Daytimer" in Middleton, then end up in a city where it's enforced, you're subject to that curfew. You go ahead and get the designation anyway.