The frenetic energy of going through the motions

What does The Offspring have to do with a novel written over 100 years ago?

Not much. But when I first heard the song, I pictured the gruesome dance from Lilith. The skeletons getting up and dancing in the moonlight.

I feel like the two authors, the lyricist and the 19th century novelist are making the same point, When we go through the motions of life, we are expending frenetic energy and we may as well be dead,

The song is about being boxed up, being squeezed into the mold you don't fit in, not truly being yourself until you feel like you are going to explode. The chapter is about humans not living, but simply going through lives' motions.

These two themes are so similar to me. Of course a person would want to light it up, light it up light it up. But humans have been doing this forever. We dance the dance of what we are told to do, who we are supposed to be, rather than fully living as we actually are.