The Comfort of Familiar Associations

Harold's personal associations with picnics and his bedroom repeatedly turn unfamiliar surroundings into clues about comfort and need.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Beach Reminds Him of Food

A Familiar Idea on Unfamiliar Land Recognition through association Harold does not know where he is when he steps onto the beach. Its sand nevertheless reminds him of picnics, giving him a familiar thought in an uncertain place. Need follows memory The thought makes him hungry, and he lays out lunch. The association does not orient him geographically, but it turns an unknown shore into a setting where an ordinary comfort is possible.

The Bedroom as a Goal

A Familiar Room in Mind The wish to see his window Harold hopes to find his bedroom window from the mountain. The familiar room becomes an emotional counterpoint to the strange settings his walk keeps producing. Need intensifies Harold's tiredness makes the idea of the bedroom immediate. His search is sustained by a simple attachment to a known place where he can stop and sleep.

Comfort Made Real

Familiarity Restored A remembered coordinate The bedroom window's relation to the Moon supplies the recognition Harold could not find among the city windows. The clue is meaningful because it connects a visible feature to a familiar room. The body can rest Harold draws a bed and gets under the covers. The adventure ends with a return to comfort that his earlier associations had foreshadowed but could not yet provide.

After Harold reaches shore

After Harold has climbed toward the mountain summit

At the final return to bed