Chapter 5, The Buffet Summary

Thérèse walks through the rooms of the house, entering rooms and turning the lights on and off as she passes through. In the kitchen, Thérèse notices that the only things that have changed are the appliances. She takes out tonic to mix into her first alcoholic drink in twenty years. Thérèse thinks of the house and how everything in it belongs to her.

Chapter 5, The Buffet Analysis

Thérèse is a visitor, a stranger entering the old rooms of her childhood. The brevity of her visit to each of the rooms represents the short time she spent here and foreshadows Thérèse's final moments as she runs toward the doors of the burning church. The clock and its ticking are the...