Bob Wood is mentioned throughout the novel but never discussed in detail. A painting is mentioned depicting Wood presenting the Unification Treaty. In one conversation in which the protagonist discusses his discovery that people once had varying lifespans, one character comments that controlling people's lifespans is the ultimate realization of Wei and Wood's thinking. The poem also mentions Jesus Christ, a central figure of Christianity, and presents the historical Karl Marx, an ideologue of communism. Both pillars of the official state ideology are depicted on its coat of arms, with a cross and sickle. "Sacrificed" is a poetic synonym for "dead".