Summary

While an unnamed husband’s wife and son are out of the house, he is seduced by “the younger sister of his wife’s college roommate” (72). As the husband watches her begin to take her clothes off, he notes to himself that the woman is essentially imitating other seductive scenes and ideas from other media, which feels to him more awkward that stimulating. For reasons that he does not entirely know, the husband kneels to the floor and clasps his hands together in prayer, saying to the woman, “It’s not what you think I’m afraid of” (74).

Analysis

Wallace positions the narration of this story so that we are “seeing” the scene through the husband’s eyes, with access to his thoughts – but not the thoughts of the seducing woman. The detailed descriptions of the woman’s body indicate that the husband is...