Section 1 Summary

Section 1 is entitled "Midnight."

"Chick's Story" Chick describes how his life deteriorated after his mother's death (see "Quotes," p 4); essentially, how he came to lose faith in himself. He describes how he became increasingly dependent on alcohol, lost money on seductive investment schemes, got fired from a series of jobs, and became estranged from his wife and family. He says the turning point to the desire to kill himself (see "Quotes," p. 3) was the moment at which he received a photograph of his daughter's wedding to which he hadn't been invited. At that point, the narrative interjects a quotation from a poem, described as having been found among Chick's notebooks. In the quote, a dying soul is described as "blundering back to God."

"Chick Tries to End It All" Chick describes his activities in the days leading up to his suicide attempt&mdash...