Santayana describes Oliver as a spiritual person, and according to Santayana's ontology the "spirit is a natural observer." The trouble with Oliver is that he only knew how to "observe"; he was trapped in some sort of mystical transcendentalism inherited from his parents. At the same time, he felt obliged to follow through with the hollow duties assigned to him by his society. "It was Oliver, not I, who didn't love life, because he hadn't the animal Epicurean faculty of enjoying it in its arbitrariness and transciency...he had nothing to pin his allegiance to..." Santayana presents that the quiet tragedy of Oliver is caused by his lack of self-knowledge, the absence of a "guide to life," and the influences of a confused society.