bread

“Bread” is Jenny and Pauline’s word for money, a small piece of shared vocabulary that resurfaces in a dream at a moment when Jenny fears Pauline may see how much of her inner life is bound up with her. The term makes their closeness audible: even as Jenny wonders what she has felt and surrendered, Pauline recalls the language they used together.

Meaning and Use

In the dream, Pauline corrects Jenny for saying “money,” insisting that they always called it “bread.” The word functions as a substitute for money within their shared way of speaking. The passage establishes that usage through Pauline’s recollection, rather than explaining when or why it began.

The Dream and the Notepads

Jenny dreams that Pauline is reading her notepads, which contain Jenny’s unedited thoughts about her. Jenny has handed them over as if doing so were natural, then becomes anxious that Pauline will understand what they reveal. As Pauline turns the pages, Jenny considers quietly taking the notepads back. Her fear of being read gives the correction about “bread” a particular charge: Pauline is not merely reading private pages but also recalling a language Jenny recognizes as theirs.

Narrative Significance

The word arrives after Jenny wonders whether she has loved Pauline, loathed her, dreamed of her, or surrendered herself to her. Pauline’s mild correction interrupts the anticipated scene of accusation with an ordinary memory of how they spoke. That shift makes “bread” more than a synonym: it marks a shared past that persists in Jenny’s imagination, even as she fears that the intimacy preserved in her thoughts may be exposed.