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Chapter 1

• The narrator reflects on his family history and his childhood.

• Chronically ill at a young age, the narrator nearly dies of autointoxication.

• At age four, the narrator encounters a night-soil man and finds himself feeling a confusing desire.

• Fascinated by a picture of a mounted knight, the boy begins to obsess about death and dying.

• The narrator loses interest in the knight upon learning it is a female, Joan of Arc.

• As a young boy, the narrator watches the soldiers passing by his house with longing.

• The narrator remembers a dream he had as a boy in which the adults wore masks.

• As a young boy, the narrator sees a magic show and dresses up like the female magician; the adults shame him for dressing up like a woman.

• In fiction, the boy admires any story of death even though he is scared of death.

• The boy...

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