Summary

Chapter 4 returns to Stephen's perspective. It has been seven years since his wife, Nancy, has died and he has finally begun the process of clearing out her belongings. As he is going through Nancy's clothes he comes across a cardigan that stirs up memories: from when she would wear it when she breastfed their son to it being her favorite thing to wear while she was writing. Stephen reveals he and Nancy were both writers before they became teachers. Stephen believes Nancy to be the superior writer, but neither had any large amount of success. After slowly donating all of Nancy's belongings Stephen feels rejuvenated and decides to "behave in a way that, if Nancy were to walk into the room, she would feel love for me and not shame" (18). On his way to the library to work on a non-fiction manuscript about...