Cindy Bones

Cindy Bones, whom Garp calls Little Squab Bones, is a young woman involved in an affair with him while she is leaving town and he remains married to Helen. Her brief relationship with Garp is consequential less for its duration than for the way it makes his carefully prepared betrayal visible to himself: afterward, he connects Cindy’s vulnerability with the women whose experiences have shaped his understanding of harm, and recognizes that his own conduct has violated the principles he claims to hold.

Identity and Circumstances

Cindy is introduced as someone leaving town as the college lets out. Garp is her favorite writer, and he is the only writer she has actually met. She is already upset about saying goodbye when he sits with her outside her dark apartment. The imbalance between her admiration and his intentions gives the encounter its particular ethical charge: Garp knows she is distressed by the parting and chooses that moment to pursue her.

The Affair and Garp’s Preparation

Garp’s involvement with Cindy is deliberate rather than spontaneous. He has bought condoms weeks in advance, anticipating that he will be ready if she gives in to her attraction to him. The three-pack remains in his pocket as he sits with her in the car. Its quiet presence makes his advance appear planned, not an impulsive lapse, and complicates any attempt to treat the affair as something that simply happened to him.

Afterward, Garp considers his guilt in connection with the encounter and with his own prior actions. He recognizes that Cindy was distressed and that he had arranged the circumstances in advance. The contrast between his preparation and his later remorse is central to his characterization: regret follows, but it does not undo the choice he made or remove his responsibility for it.

Memory, Vulnerability, and Moral Recognition

In reflecting on Cindy, Garp recalls the girl in the park, Ellen James, and his mother’s difficult decisions. He also remembers the women he had encountered in Vienna and Cushie Percy, who died in childbirth. These memories place his treatment of Cindy within a wider pattern of women’s vulnerability, though the recognition comes after his own betrayal rather than preventing it.

Garp remembers that Cindy cried during their encounter and was unable to speak to him when he left. He notes that she still had her tongue, distinguishing her circumstances from Ellen James’s while linking the two through silence and vulnerability. The resemblance does not make their experiences equivalent; instead, it shows how Garp’s mind turns to earlier stories of harm as he tries to understand the consequences of his own conduct.

Narrative Significance

Cindy’s role is presented chiefly through Garp’s actions and subsequent reflection, not through an independent account of her life. That narrative focus makes the encounter a test of his moral self-understanding: he can recognize the pattern of vulnerability and feel guilt, yet his foresight about the affair demonstrates that recognition alone has not governed his behavior. Cindy’s departure and his parting from her leave that contradiction unresolved.