Afternoon (Fourth Pill)

Afternoon (Fourth Pill) is the temporal heading for the novel’s third part. By pairing an afternoon time of day with a numbered pill, it marks the narrative’s progression through a medication-linked structure without, in the available passage, specifying the dose or the events of that phase.

Part Heading

The section is introduced by “III: AFTERNOON (FOURTH PILL).” Its numbering identifies it as the novel’s third part, while the parenthetical connects the afternoon to a fourth medication-taking point. The heading therefore supplies a temporal frame as well as a structural division.

Placement and Evidence

The heading follows a line ending with “o’clock train.” The passage establishes this sequence of text but does not give an exact clock time or describe what happens during the afternoon phase. Its significance here rests on the explicit organization of the narrative around time and medication.