Chapter 32, The Oranges Summary

Léonie tries to resolve the problem of when two objects are distinct from each other yet the same, such as the addition of one plus one, and when the objects are two separate entities. She thinks of walking in a field and spotting magpies, wondering how much time should elapse before the next magpie she sees can be counted as a second magpie. Léonie sits on the doorstep behind the kitchen juggling oranges. She watches the individual fruit become one orange as the fruits blur with motion. She then lets the oranges slow down so that they become two distinct objects. As she juggles, Léonie thinks about how she dislikes objects without names, such as magpies, which are not solid and safe like the fields, for instance, or the cows, which are named...