The Radiologist's Domestic World

Die, My Love

This subplot traces the radiologist's ordinary family life and the way his obsession invades it.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Family Man The Family Man from "Die, My Love". The Family Man Context The radiologist describes himself as an easy-going man of the house, born and raised in the city closest to the countryside, in charge…

The Family Man from "Die, My Love". The Family Man Context The radiologist describes himself as an easy-going man of the house, born and raised in the city closest to the countryside, in charge…

The Family Man Context The radiologist describes himself as an easy-going man of the house, born and raised in the city closest to the countryside, in charge of the X-ray department. He has a wife and a disabled daughter. Turn He enjoys running his fingers through his wife's soft hair and makes love to her slowly, respecting her moods and menstrual cycle. He is not particularly good, but not the devil either. Aftermath The ordinary world he built is about to be spoiled by an image he drags home like a piece of rubbish. His self-portrait is the calm before the obsession.

The Image Grows The Image Grows from "Die, My Love". The Image Grows Context The radiologist waves to his wife pulling up weeds, but the image of the narrator follows him into the house.

The Image Grows from "Die, My Love". The Image Grows Context The radiologist waves to his wife pulling up weeds, but the image of the narrator follows him into the house.

The Image Grows Context The radiologist waves to his wife pulling up weeds, but the image of the narrator follows him into the house. His insipid tree becomes voluptuous, and the image is with him even when he bathes his daughter. Turn He hears clucking and sees chicken coops on his way home, but the familiar setting is spoiled. The horror of the desire makes him want to skin, flay and escape what pursues him. Aftermath The image causes chaos, growing inside him as an aura. His domestic life continues, but every ordinary object is shadowed by the woman in flared skirts.

The Kitchen Floor Tears The Kitchen Floor Tears from "Die, My Love". The Kitchen Floor Tears Context The radiologist cries for the narrator on his kitchen floor, pounding the tiles with his fists.

The Kitchen Floor Tears from "Die, My Love". The Kitchen Floor Tears Context The radiologist cries for the narrator on his kitchen floor, pounding the tiles with his fists.

The Kitchen Floor Tears Context The radiologist cries for the narrator on his kitchen floor, pounding the tiles with his fists. He longs for her finger bones, her hips, the flesh of her buttocks. Turn He fools himself into believing this is the lowest he can go, but an image poisons you like the eyes of an owl. He imagines pushing her against a wall and strangling her with kisses. Aftermath His tears mark the point of no return. The affair begins not with a kiss but with this solitary, violent collapse of his self-control.

The Disabled Daughter in the Crib

The Disabled Daughter in the Crib Context The narrator watches the radiologist try to calm his daughter's convulsions, swaying and gripping her bones. The girl cannot talk, walk or sit up, and her left brain is flat. Turn He wraps her in a feather duvet and lulls her to sleep, stroking her ankles. The narrator watches with violent desire, wanting to climb through the window and rape him. Aftermath For the radiologist, the daughter is both his burden and his alibi. The scene shows the weight of his domestic life and the cruelty of the narrator's invasion.

The Mushroom Baskets The Mushroom Baskets from "Die, My Love". The Mushroom Baskets Context The narrator arrives at the radiologist's house and finds no one home except the disabled daughter.

The Mushroom Baskets from "Die, My Love". The Mushroom Baskets Context The narrator arrives at the radiologist's house and finds no one home except the disabled daughter.

The Mushroom Baskets Context The narrator arrives at the radiologist's house and finds no one home except the disabled daughter. She sleeps in his armchair and wakes to giggles as he and his wife return with baskets of mushrooms. Turn The wife looks at her with horror, and the radiologist sends the wife upstairs. The narrator feels like ancient history and watches as the two men later go off to talk. Aftermath The radiologist's domestic world survives the affair. The wife is expecting twins, and the family moves on without the narrator.

before the affair, in the radiologist's account of himself

after his first sightings of the narrator

a dawn, after the obsession has taken hold

a night when the narrator spies on his house

near the ending, after the narrator flees to his house