Montreal

Montreal is both a place of separation and a brief refuge for the narrator and Emily: Emily moved there to attend college, and the narrator made a long journey to spend time with her. Their days in the unfamiliar city brought them closer, but financial pressures soon ended Emily’s studies there and sent her back to Elba.

Study and Distance

Emily had saved throughout the preceding summer to attend college in Montreal. She worked overtime six nights a week at a Walgreens and stayed with her religious aunt, a life that left little time or room for the narrator. Her plan to study in Canada had earlier been announced as a reason she would leave; the narrator dismissed it as an excuse, an interpretation that makes the later reality of her move especially consequential.

The Visit

At the end of August, soon after Emily settled in Montreal, the narrator traveled to see her. The Greyhound journey took twenty hours each way. He valued being alone with her in a city neither knew well, described as the Paris of Canada. They smoked Player’s cigarettes, leaning out over the fire escape, prepared dinner in her kitchenette, and drank. Their arguments ranged over God, Oasis, and the narrator’s arrogance; they could shout at one another, have sex, and fall asleep together. The visit made Montreal a setting for both friction and intimacy, rather than a simple escape from the distance between them.

Leaving Montreal

The closeness of the visit could not make the arrangement permanent. The narrator describes the time together as dreamlike, while recognizing that neither of them could stay; money was the reason. Emily left college, returned to Elba, rented an apartment, and took a job at a Giant Eagle. She expected to resume her education at a local college in the spring semester. Montreal therefore marks a temporary chapter in their relationship: it drew the couple into a shared, private life, but financial limits brought that chapter to an early end.