Summary

Chapter 4 takes place in 1980 and is primarily focused on Teddy's daughter Viola and her family as they spend a day at the beach. During their time at the beach, the narrator goes into depth about Viola's adult life choices and goes back and forth between past and her current situation. However, since the novel is written in past tense, the tense of the summary remains in past tense.

Viola had two children, a son named Sunny and a daughter named Bertie. Their given names were Sun and Moon. Sunny kept his name, but Bertie called herself Bertie until everyone else did, too. The kids' father was a man named Dominic; he and Viola weren't married because Dominic didn't believe in the social convention/establishment of marriage.

To get to the beach, Viola's family took their commune leader Dorothy's van...