Intermezzo

Peter often experiences contradiction between his words and actions. He says he wants to make Naomi happy, but cannot do so if he devotes himself to marriage with Sylvia. He thinks of Ivan as a genius and speaks highly of him, but disrespects his agency as an adult. He views himself as his father’s protector, but feels distant from him, even in death. He regrets that he didn’t do more for his father when he was still alive, suggesting that the protection and care Peter extended was insufficient. These paradoxes expose the failure of language to capture the complicated reality of Peter’s behavior, which applies to other character arcs and relationships as well.

Peter finds his relationship with Sylvia difficult—but necessary—to define. Although their history suggests that they are ex-partners, the emotional investment they sustain in each other suggests something of an active relationship. This confuses Peter, prompting him to broach the topic of formalizing their relationship on multiple occasions. Each time, Sylvia rejects the notion, stressing that he shouldn’t want to be in a traditional relationship with her for fear of mutual resentment. On the other hand, Peter’s relationship with Naomi is predicated on his ability to support her. But the transactional nature of their connection belies his genuine emotional investment in their power play. In a crucial scene, Peter’s feelings for Naomi intensify when she asks what time he will come home, so that she can prepare dinner. Despite their misgivings and lack of verbal agreement, Peter and Naomi fall into the patterns of an active romantic relationship, which satisfies the need for companionship he does not get from Sylvia.

Ivan likewise navigates the thorny implications that language and culture have placed on his relationship with Margaret. He argues that their dynamic does not mirror the conventional abusive power imbalance of an age-gap relationship. He knows that he wants to be with her and is willing to look past the differences between them to make Margaret feel good. However, Ivan’s inability to describe the reality of the relationship in terms that overpower the traditional associations of age-gap romance, especially in heterosexual couples where the woman older, causes a rift between him and Peter. Peter’s insistence that Ivan is still a child drives Ivan to assert the validity of his relationship, make a greater effort to enter Margaret’s life, and escalate their relationship into something long-term. At the same time, his physical and emotional investment does not result in better explanatory power. Instead, Ivan reevaluates how he represents the relationship to others, cautiously telling Sylvia that he is seeing someone, but withholding the fact of her age to avoid outrage.

Language plays a complex dance with experience, often falling short of the truth but illuminating the characters’ journeys and making sense of their lives. Several times throughout the novel, Sylvia raises a logic problem about a liar who either claims to have some green hats or no hats at all. When Ivan considers this problem, they both realize that formal logic can feel counterintuitive to common sense. Ivan concludes that language does not map perfectly onto reality and that one must accept its limitations. Towards the end of the novel, Peter’s meditation on labels in relationships resonates with this, suggesting that to attempting to define reality opens it up to correction. Experience must lead language towards understanding, not the other way around.