The Quitter is a book about Harvey Pekar (shown above) who was never really able to "make it" until late in life because he was too scared to face challenges, and this shot captures that idea. Harvey is clutching his bed, suggesting that he is too scared to leave it and go out into the real world. He is so scared that he has to pin himself down so that he can't get swept off of it. His frightened face and the fact that he has no socks or shirt also give us the idea that he has absolutely no intention of getting out of bed. Life has been too stressful for Harvey, and he is too scared to get up and face it. Instead, he just shies away from challenges and hides in his bed.
The reason he is scared is that almost everything goes wrong for him in the book, and boy, have things gone wrong in this room. The bed is not made, there are papers everywhere, the mirror (picture?) is cracked, and it's all just a big mess. This mess in the room symbolizes the mess that Harvey's life is. He fails at everything he tried and has no security in his life as he bounces from job to job.
However, despite his life being a mess, Harvey is very gifted and has the means to clean it up, and this shot tells us that as well. Because his shirt is off, you can see that Harvey is very strong. Also, there is a bookshelf on the left packed with books, implying that he is very smart. These two qualities (strong and smart) make up a well rounded person that should be very successful. Harvey has always had the potential to do something big; he was one of the most physically and intellectually gifted students when he was younger. Unfortunately, that never amounted to anything for him because he was not resilient and couldn't overcome difficult times. However, Harvey later becomes not only a well respected Jazz reviewer, but also an award-winning comic book writer, proving that he does have the ability to be successful, which this picture subtly tells us through the bookshelf and by reminding us of his strength.
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