Chapter 4 Summary

After leaving Alice Manfred's, wearing a hat that makes her look like a crazy woman, Violet stops at the drugstore. She has first one malt, then another. She is trying to regain the hips and backside she swears she possessed as a young woman. After the attack on the dead girl, Violet felt she had split into two people, herself and Violent, whom she calls "the other Violet." The other Violet sees violence and the instruments of violence everywhere. It comes naturally to her, violent thoughts that Violet would never entertain. Violet relives the attack at the casket, seeing it though the other Violet's eyes. She remembers how the knife slipped and left just a tiny dent under one ear, instead of slashing the too-light, pretty face the way she intended.

The funeral ushers hesitated for a few seconds to act, realizing that...