PART TWO, Chapter 2

Summary

The chapter begins with a description of Giovanni’s room. David describes the room as small, dirty, and in constant disarray. At the onset of their relationship, David takes it upon himself to tidy the room up, thinking that by doing so he would improve Giovanni’s overall situation in life. David expresses how cleaning up the room made him feel like a “housewife,” something he took pleasure in initially, until he began to feel emasculated by this activity. As time passes on in that room with Giovanni, David becomes progressively uncomfortable and even starts to disdain his relationship with Giovanni.

When David is not with Giovanni, he sometimes visits the America Express office to retrieve his mail. One day he picks up a letter from his father and a letter from Hella, and he decides to read the one from his father first. His father writes quizzically about David’s life in Paris and implores him to return home, as he cannot see what David can possibly be doing in Paris for so long other than wasting time and money. David puts his father’s letter in his pocket and notices a young, good-looking sailor on the street. David thinks about the sailor with a combination of envy and desire when David suddenly realizes that he is inadvertently staring at the sailor. The sailor responds with a glare of disgust towards David, which reminds David of the way that he reacts to Jacques’ unwanted looks at him.

David sits down at a café table and opens Hella’s letter. He learns that she will be Spain for ten more days and that she cannot wait to return to Paris to be with him. While David is contemplating the impact of Hella’s return on his relationship with Giovanni, he decides to change his drink order from an aperitif to what he feels to be a classic American drink: a Scotch and soda. David decides that he is relieved by the news of Hella’s return and the eventual termination of his relationship with Giovanni. He reassures himself that he has no reason to feel guilty about his impending abandonment of Giovanni since it was always inevitable that he would return to Hella and that he had not hidden his relationship with Hella from Giovanni. 

On his way to Montparnasse (a district in Paris known for being home to artists, cafés, and night-clubs), David is tempted to hook up with a girl to soothe his dread over breaking the news to Giovanni. Though he passes by a number of sex workers, he cannot bring himself to proposition them because he thinks he can do better. David stops at a local café to have a drink when he bumps into an acquaintance named Sue. The two have a drink and converse about their lives. Sue agrees to accept David’s proposition, and they then proceed to Sue’s apartment. Sue and David have a glass of cognac before having sex. While they are having sex, David thinks about Hella and Giovanni and begins to become increasingly anxious and ashamed by the situation. After they are done having sex, Sue asks David if he would like to go on a date, to which David lies and says he already has plans, and generally avoids making future dates. Sue catches on to David’s apprehension and tells him it would be okay to look for her whenever he is feeling lonely. In response, David tells Sue to leave a candle in the window.