A Supermarket in California carried the dead into the underworld, across the river Styx. The River Lethe was a different river in the underworld, which caused those who drank its waters to experience complete forgetfulness. The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In "Story Line", Ian Marshall suggests that the poem is written to show the differences in American life depicted by Whitman and that which faces Ginsberg in the 1950s: "It's the distance of a century—with Civil War and the 'triumph' of the Industrial Revolution and Darwinism and Freud
The Lake of Souls a means of protecting Harkat's soul when he and Kurda lived in the present at the same time, no such mechanism is in place now, and Harkat will soon disappear, albeit with a guaranteed escape from the Lake of Souls. Kurda eventually decides to sacrifice himself to allow Harkat to carry on his life, with Harkat choosing to risk a possible return to the Lake so he can carry on helping Darren in his quest. As Kurda prepares for his second death, Darren and Harkat return to their world, arriving at the Cirque du Freak. Harkat discovers the panther teeth