Summary

In Chapter 6, “The Weakness of the Spectator,” at her Milan hotel, Chloé is overcome by pain. She worries “about how much walking, standing, enduring this experience will require” (115). She goes to the neutral room to calm herself.

Two months prior, Chloé was teaching her night class. In the middle of the lecture, her student Sharon burst out of the class, yelling on the phone. For a recent assignment, Sharon had written about “moving from Nigeria to New York to be with her husband” (120). Immediately after arriving with her children, her husband left her.

After class, Chloé and Sharon got into an altercation. Sharon wanted to be marked present although she had spent the entire class on the phone. Sharon became increasingly aggressive, ultimately chasing Chloé out of the building, hurling insults at her.

Chloé called Kate to tell her what happened. Chloé had...