Part 1: Chapter 4 Summary

On a quiet Sunday morning after their big fight, Frank Wheeler approaches April and tries to apologize once more. April shrugs him off coldly, telling him to take his hands off her and keep his voice down because of the children playing in the next room. Frustrated and hurt, Frank finds temporary solace in reading the Sunday comics to his children but quickly becomes bored and irritable, wishing he could take a piece of furniture and hurl it through the large plate glass picture window. Morosely, he looks forward to the arrival of the Campbells—Shep and Milly—neighbors who usually make things more cheerful by their presence. However, this Sunday afternoon the drinks, cigarettes, and conversation fail to ignite the spirit of previous social encounters.

There is awkward talk of the failed play, in which Shep also had...