Summary

Chapter 16

The next day in class Ted can scarcely look at Angela. He does notice that she has now reverted back into full armored regalia, complete with nose and lip rings. She looks more like a ferret than a human at that moment, Ted thinks. To make matters worse, the writing for that day from the students is particularly mundane and hellish. He is struck by the fact that all the kids seem to write about, all love seems to be to them is rape, incest, or abuse. It sickens him and he wishes that he’d taken Magda’s advice to distance himself from this sort of thing in his classes.

Ted also can’t make eye contact with Claris, who is singularly quiet. Ted wonders what must be going through her mind. He’s so distracted that he knows his teaching...