Questions about the "meaning of life" involve weighty matters. To help Lucy understand the one-word reply he yells at her, Schroeder launches furiously into the fast part of the Pathétique. The music score pushes her down, and her speech balloon is squeezed into the bottom corner of the panel. In the music, an ascending assertive phrase that is the musical equivalent of Schroeder's outgoing declaration "Beethoven is IT" repeatedly alternates with her descending "beguiling" phrase that appears in another strip in this exhibit.