Why, [Gerald] asked himself, when I’d finally reached a sort of, well, not peace but acceptance, why did I say yes to Bill? Was it really for the chance to travel or did I say yes because, as an actor, my hand is always out, so when a job is offered without my supplication, I’m too flattered not to accept?
-- Narration (chapter 1)

Importance: As Gerald takes the first tentative steps back into his life, he feels the pull of safety (even in the uneasy form of "acceptance" of his illness with HIV-AIDS) and the pull of the gratification of the actor's ego (i.e. being asked to take on a role without having to audition).

Someone had once built a fire in the awful courtyard, in winter perhaps, and the burned wood remained. Now the sun seemed to scorch everything – the soil, the charred logs, the palm trees – to the same...
-- Narration (chapter 2)