Chapter 20 Summary

Kilgore wades through a polluted stream, which is incidentally the same flow that is polluting the Sacred Miracle Cave. He then walks a short distance to the hotel, which also houses the lounge occupied by most of the novel's other characters. Incredibly, the desk clerk not only recognizes Kilgore, but has read dozens of his novels and stories. Kilgore is devastated to not be anonymous. The exuberant desk clerk enthuses about Kilgore's work and predicts that Kilgore's presence will change Midland City by shocking it from complacency. When Kilgore claims his message is a negative one, the desk clerk counters by claiming that Kilgore has returned from the negative life.

Chapter 20 Analysis

Kilgore continues to move inexorably toward the fatal moment when he will poison Dwayne's disturbed mind. In yet another seemingly meaningless coincidence, Kilgore wades through the very pollution that emanates from...