Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh appears as the destination for a consequential legal consultation: Henry English and Lee travel there to meet a lawyer, and the city’s professional setting makes Henry newly conscious of his family’s financial dependence and changing relationships.

The Lawyer’s Office

Henry and Lee drive to Pittsburgh to speak with a lawyer at a large firm in the old Koppers Building near Grant Street. As Lee wheels her father into the elevator, Henry anticipates the expense. The visit is presented through his attention to practical details—the firm’s location high in the building, the elevator ride, and his wheelchair—rather than through a description of the legal matter itself.

Henry and Lee’s Uneasy Dependence

Henry dislikes the thought of Lee’s new husband helping the family financially, but recognizes that there is no other arrangement available. The lawyer, a fit, gray-haired man nearly Henry’s age, immediately puts him off; Lee, by contrast, appears comfortable with him. Henry reads that ease as evidence that Lee now belongs among people and institutions unfamiliar to him. The office intensifies his sense of displacement, though he cannot tell whether his jitteriness comes from the setting, the reason for the visit, or both.

Narrative Significance

The brief Pittsburgh scene locates legal help in a formal, expensive urban environment while keeping its emotional focus on Henry’s loss of control and Lee’s growing independence. Pittsburgh is not developed as a broader portrait of the city; its significance here lies in the contrast between the firm’s professional world and Henry’s uneasy reliance on support from Lee and her husband.