Summary

Pages 1 – 14: Eileen begins the novel by discussing one of her English teachers at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The teacher’s name was Eva Nelson, and Eileen found Mrs. Nelson’s body quite attractive. Eileen explains in narration that she originally lived in Arlington, Massachusetts, and the only schools attended she attended before college were catholic schools. One of the required readings in Mrs. Nelson’s class was The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Mrs. Nelson assigned the students to each write a personal piece about the world around them inspired by the social critiques in Dante’s work. Eileen wrote her piece in poetry form, and Mrs. Nelson is very impressed with it.

Pages 15 – 28: Eileen then discusses an incident that occurred when she was living in New York City in her mid-twenties. She met a woman named Rita at a bar. Rita...