The Radiologist's Daughter's Fate

Die, My Love

This character thread follows the disabled daughter of the radiologist, a silent figure whose existence shapes both her father and the narrator.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Fish With No Scales The Fish With No Scales from "Die, My Love". The Fish With No Scales Context The narrator watches from her bicycle as the radiologist holds his daughter, swaying side to side and gripping her bones.

The Fish With No Scales from "Die, My Love". The Fish With No Scales Context The narrator watches from her bicycle as the radiologist holds his daughter, swaying side to side and gripping her bones.

The Fish With No Scales Context The narrator watches from her bicycle as the radiologist holds his daughter, swaying side to side and gripping her bones. She calls her a little fish with no scales and an empty-headed angel. Turn The girl's eyes roll with wild delight at her father, and she dribbles on his face. She cannot talk, walk, sit up or focus her gaze, and she never cries. Aftermath The daughter is defined by what she cannot do. She is both the radiologist's tenderness and his trap, the reason he cannot simply walk away.

The Flat Left Brain The Flat Left Brain from "Die, My Love". The Flat Left Brain Context The narrator notes that the girl's left brain is flat and that she takes after her mother.

The Flat Left Brain from "Die, My Love". The Flat Left Brain Context The narrator notes that the girl's left brain is flat and that she takes after her mother.

The Flat Left Brain Context The narrator notes that the girl's left brain is flat and that she takes after her mother. The textureless brain will not stop her body from putrefying, menstruating or ceasing to menstruate. Turn Her limbs and curls protrude through the bars of the crib, and her father wraps her in a feather duvet, turning her into a pheasant with a ring of white plumage. Aftermath The daughter is a body without language, a pure biological fate. The narrator projects onto her the horror of being trapped in a body that can never explain itself.

The Convulsions The Convulsions from "Die, My Love". The Convulsions Context The father tries to calm the spasms of his daughter, and the electricity leaves her body as she goes limp.

The Convulsions from "Die, My Love". The Convulsions Context The father tries to calm the spasms of his daughter, and the electricity leaves her body as she goes limp.

The Convulsions Context The father tries to calm the spasms of his daughter, and the electricity leaves her body as she goes limp. She lies exhausted in her crib, her legs and curls protruding through the bars. Turn He lulls her to sleep and strokes her ankles while the narrator watches with violent lust. The narrator wants to climb in and rape him, but she stays hidden in the vegetation. Aftermath The convulsions are a recurring drama of the radiologist's household. They bind him to his daughter, and they awaken the narrator's most possessive desire.

The Window Figures The Window Figures from "Die, My Love". The Window Figures Context When the narrator arrives at the radiologist's house, his princess is in the window, but there is no one else around.

The Window Figures from "Die, My Love". The Window Figures Context When the narrator arrives at the radiologist's house, his princess is in the window, but there is no one else around.

The Window Figures Context When the narrator arrives at the radiologist's house, his princess is in the window, but there is no one else around. The family has left the disabled daughter alone. Turn Later, after the radiologist and his wife return, the mother and daughter appear at the window, one paler than the other, when the two men face each other in the fields. Aftermath The daughter is a silent witness to the confrontation. She never speaks or moves toward the narrator, but her presence shapes every decision the radiologist makes.

Two Tiny Twins Two Tiny Twins from "Die, My Love". Two Tiny Twins Context The husband tells the narrator that the radiologist and his wife are expecting a child, actually two, tiny twins.

Two Tiny Twins from "Die, My Love". Two Tiny Twins Context The husband tells the narrator that the radiologist and his wife are expecting a child, actually two, tiny twins.

Two Tiny Twins Context The husband tells the narrator that the radiologist and his wife are expecting a child, actually two, tiny twins. The narrator and the husband laugh at the sound of the words. Turn The daughter, the disabled child, now has the prospect of siblings. The radiologist's family is expanding, while the narrator's family is dissolving. Aftermath The twins mark the future the narrator will not share. The daughter's fate is to remain inside the radiologist's household, while the narrator is left outside in the undergrowth.

a night when the narrator spies on the radiologist's house

during the same scene at the radiologist's house

a short while later, in the same night

near the ending, during the narrator's visit to the radiologist's house

the final forest conversation