Part II (Chapters 18 through 22)

[MadArchitect]

Use this thread to discuss the middle third of Part II, namely chapters 18 through 22).

[MadArchitect]

Following up on the line of thought I started in the last section, it occurred to me that the hostage situation in this part could be read as a kind of metaphor for domestic abuse. The idea I got while reading chapter 18, for example, was that some instances of domestic abuse could be boiled down to a frustrated male lashing out at a society he perceives as having forced him into a humdrum, workaday existence. But society itself is out of reach, so he directs his violence against his "cellmate," so to speak.The other thing I'm wondering about is the protagonist's brush with venereal disease, which is becoming a more and more prominant theme in his stream of consciousness. I'm just not sure how it fits in with the rest of the novel.

[Max]

MadArchitect!I understand that this topic was started more than two years ago and is pretty much abandoned by now and forgotten by everyone,but I'll still try.You see,English is not my native language and I'm not that good at it, actually,so I have some problems reading in English.And in "The Woman In The Dunes" there's a passage I just don't understand (even though I know all the words that are used there) and so I was hoping that you could help me with that one...It's in the end of chapter 19 right after the woman says "City women are all pretty, aren't they?" and till the end of the chapter.First of all: who's he talking to when he remembers his conversation with some woman with whom they intended to make love?Who says "Well, the rubber suits us pretty well, doesn't it?" - is it a prostitute,or is it this "other woman" as he calls her?And the part I've been trying for a reeeeaaaly long time to grasp the meaning of is this conversation in the end about "forcing a sale"?What does it mean "to force a sale"?What she wants when she says she wants to force a sale?