“Cut the Cord” game

The “Cut the Cord” game is a coercive test of timing in which Roland makes Thérèse stand on a stool with a noose around her neck and gives her a sickle to sever the rope after he pulls the stool away. Its apparent challenge is to save herself; its actual terms are imposed by an armed captor who controls the moment of danger. Thérèse survives the test by watching for Roland’s telltale movement, but the same game later ends in Suzanne’s death.

Setup and Rules

Roland rigs the apparatus in an underground setting: the rope hangs from the ceiling, is fastened around Thérèse’s neck, and is secured taut while she stands on a stool. A string attached to the stool remains in Roland’s hand as he sits facing her. He places a sickle in Thérèse’s hand and makes her responsible for cutting the rope when he jerks the stool away.

Roland presents the arrangement as a test of her own ability, warning that he will not miss his pull if she misses her cut. The rule disguises a lethal imbalance as a contest: Thérèse must react correctly at precisely the moment Roland chooses, while he controls the apparatus and can make the threat real. The sickle offers a narrow chance of escape, not the power to refuse the game.

Thérèse’s First Survival

In the first described round, Roland tries to mislead Thérèse about the instant he will pull the stool. She does not act on his feints; instead, she reads the telltale movement that betrays the crisis of his excitement. When the stool flies away, she cuts the rope and falls safely to the ground.

Her survival does not become an opportunity to attack him. Though she still holds the sickle, she recognizes that she lacks the keys to the subterranean passages, does not know their layout, and would likely be unable to get out before Roland, who is armed, could kill her. She leaves the sickle on the ground to avoid arousing his suspicion. Roland, satisfied with what he takes to be her tractability, signals for her to leave with him. The episode thus makes her restraint a calculation under captivity, not consent to his control.

Repetition and Suzanne’s Fate

Roland later calls Thérèse back to the same performance, now naming it the “Cut the Cord” game. He again puts the noose around her neck and removes the stool; again she cuts the rope immediately and reaches the ground unharmed. This repetition confirms that the first escape was not release from the threat but a temporary reprieve within Roland’s continuing control.

After Thérèse succeeds, Roland orders Suzanne to take her place and offers to spare her if she is equally clever. Thérèse passes over the details of what follows, but reports the decisive outcome: Suzanne does not recover from the ordeal. Roland then takes Thérèse away and tells her she will not return until her time has come. Thérèse accepts that return may mean death, saying she prefers death to the life he forces her to lead. The game therefore moves from a test Thérèse can survive to an execution whose promised chance of safety proves no protection for Suzanne.

Narrative and Thematic Significance

Thérèse’s account links the game’s mechanics to the unequal terms of her captivity. The sickle and the split-second cut make survival depend on alertness, but Roland determines when the danger begins and retains the greater force. Thérèse’s close observation preserves her life for the moment; it cannot free her or save the companion made to follow her.

The narration also sets Roland’s jocular name for the game against its consequences. What he treats as a performance of skill is a lethal threat for the women forced to participate. His repeated staging of the apparatus, first with Thérèse and then with Suzanne, turns her temporary success into a grim prelude to another captive’s death, while his subsequent warning leaves Thérèse’s own fate unresolved.