What's up with the toad?
When Rick gets to experience the desolate land of Northern California he engages in a spiritual like connection with Mercer, explaining the understanding that empathy boxes are a sort of virtual way for people to share suffering emotions. After realizing this, he finds a toad which his immediate reaction is because its such a rare extinct animal how famous and rich he could potentially be off it. This excitement was a similar reaction he had with the Owl in the beginning of the novel. Therefore when he realizes the toad is actually a fake, he once again has a new perspective on empathy. Rick continually struggles as a character throughout-out this novel.
