Chapter 31, Freud Summary

Hilde sees a passage recited to Sophie as something Hilde's father has said to Hilde, too. The passage goes "We are a living planet, Sophie..." Hilde is angry that this passage is recited to Sophie, when it is her property in a sense. She rows her boat back and forth in the lake until she calms down. Hilde is still angry in general about how her father treats Sophie and Alberto in the story, and Hilde goes back to reading. Back in the story, Alberto and Sophie open the door and a naked man appears. It is the Emperor, from Hans Christian Andersen's story of "the Emperor's New Clothes." The Emperor flees after Sophie laughs at him. This is the opening to a lesson on Sigmund Freud, as a cultural philosopher, who deals with issues such as how people deal with...