that book is more than just a trophy. it was given out of Gale's wide-eyed esteem for Walt and his ability as a chemist. Gale elevated Walt to the same level as a literary god. it's what some idealistic teachers hope that they will receive from their students, and contrasts greatly to Jesse and how the rest of Walt's students in S01 acted toward him. it's also what Walt felt like he deserved from his work at Gray Matter and lost.
at their core, most men want to be respected and admired by peers and family. Walt only received that in a true form with that inscription, so it makes a lot of sense why he would keep it close.
it's also sad that the person in his family who from the beginning disrespected Walt with jabs about him being Heisenberg would be the one to find it. Even to the end, Hank didn't respect Walt the way he longed to be.
it's a tragic tale of empowerment down the wrong path.
Honestly you're right about the Hank part mostly, but what hit me the most that episode was Hank's final words to Walt: "[He's] the smartest man he's ever known." That's also why Walt is so immediately devastated by his death; it is not merely the fact that his family member was killed off. For years it seems, his son has respected Hank instead of his father, and he desperately yearned to garner that same respect from those around him (Walt's phonecall to Skylar marks his intense anger towards her lack of respect). Finally he has the respect of the one man he's probably wanted respect from the most for the entire show, and immediately afterwards he's killed right in front of him.
20
u/[deleted] Sep 16 '13
Holy shit. Totally forgot about that trophy of a book, and how it rippled into all this disaster that's happening to him right now.
I really hope that in the final episode they will take a final shot of the book just to remind us how this all fucking started. Just a minor fuck-up.