How would you interpret ‘pyramids’ here? “A novel needs a good collapse,” I (a novelist) maintained. “Success and failure. People read books to escape the uncertainties of life. And they build pyramids to last forever, so we can have something to climb on top of and admire.” How would you interpret ‘pyramids’ in the phrase: they build pyramids to last forever? Do you think the word ‘pyramids’ is an image? If so, what do they (pyramids) refer to? In the previous context, they were talking about the Mayan pyramids. Is it possible that the last sentence just describes the fact and the word ‘pyramids’ just refers to the real Mayan pyramids? Thanks! And It’s from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.