Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

The author details the sequence of events before, during, and after her husband's heart attack, and how she knew immediately that he was dead as soon as the social worker introduced himself.

Didion describes wanting to discuss her experience with John, sorting out his belongings, looking at his body in the hospital and seeing a chipped tooth he hadn't had before. She describes her determination to remain in control of her emotions and of events, and recalls thinking of Quintana, ill in the hospital.

Five months after "the event", she checked the entry/exit log of her apartment building, and discovered that the entry about the visit to the paramedics is juxtaposed with one about a burned out light bulb.

Didion needed to know the results of the autopsy so she could know how he died, thinking, irrationally, that if he'd...