Summary

Part 2, October. This section is prefaced with a painting of a landscape – forested hills in the background, a green plain in the middle foreground, and a representation of something painted in red in the immediate foreground.

Fever. The author writes in present-tense narration of having a fever, and of how sensitive he is to the now painful way he interacts with the outside world. He describes how it has triggered memories of past experiences with fever, including how fevers, when he had them as a child, led him to being touched and attended to in ways that were not usual in his home. He describes this as a “paradoxical sensation … how uncomfortable these touches felt on my [feverish] skin, and how comforting they felt to me” (90).

Rubber Boots – The author contemplates how rubber boots, like other articles of clothing, often evoke or resemble the...