In Boy Swallows Universe, Eli and Gus come across a red telephone and speak to a mystery person, but the question remains whether this person truly exists.
Gus comes to know that Lyle has a secret underground room and takes his brother to that room. The room contains nothing except a red telephone.
When the telephone rings, Gus picks it up, despite a wary Eli urging him not to answer it. The caller specifically asks for Eli.
To Eli, the voice of the caller sounds familiar, but he cannot recognize the person. This person as well as the red telephone remain mysteries in Boy Swallows Universe.
The guidance that Eli needs
The first time that Eli talks to the mystery person, they tell him that, contrary to his belief, everybody lies.
Eli is told that figuring out whether the person lying to him is a saint or a sinner is more important.
The person does not say anything more. When Eli questions Lyle about the telephone and the person he spoke to, Lyle tells him that the telephone is not connected.
That night, Eli follows Lyle and comes to know that he has gone back to dealing drugs. The mystery person’s lesson comes in handy then.
Eli realizes that Lyle is not dealing drugs out of desire but out of necessity to provide for his family, so Eli does not hold it against Lyle; instead, he supports him.
After Lyle is killed by Kroll, Eli goes to the secret room to find Lyle’s drug stash. The telephone rings again, and Eli speaks to the mystery person for the second time.
This time, the person helps Eli figure out what he needs to do to get in touch with Kroll. The mystery person just prompts Eli to think, and Eli comes to the conclusion himself.
It is then revealed that, just as Lyle had said, the telephone is not connected, indicating that the person Eli and Gus spoke to exists only in their imagination.
The person on the other side
The mystery person only helps Eli understand his stepfather’s actions and determine his next course of action; they never answer Eli’s questions.
While this implies that the person might be a manifestation of Eli’s subconscious, Gus has other thoughts.
Gus believes that a person lives the same life over and over again. When they die, they come back and do it again.
Gus tries to picture the mistakes he and Eli made in their lives, and they come back to him in disconnected pictures, and that is why he can predict the future.
According to Gus, the mystery person is none other than his future self, which is why the voice sounded familiar to Eli. However, Eli does not believe him.
The red telephone and the mystery person are forgotten by the boys for a while, as the boys move out of Lyle’s house to live with their father.
Later, when Gus’ visions of the future scare him for his brother’s safety, Gus passes out. In his unconscious state, he sees the red telephone.
Gus talks to the mystery person, who does not give him proper answers to his questions about Eli’s death and their own identity.
Gus’s final interaction with the mystery person, occurring in his unconscious state, strongly suggests that this figure, who may or may not be Gus’ future self, is a part of the brothers’ subconscious.
It would be safe to assume that while the red telephone does exist in Lyle’s secret room, the conversations with the mystery person may not be actual occurrences.
The red telephone then becomes a catalyst for Eli and Gus to have a conversation with their subconscious minds.
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