1984 July-December Summary

Ernaux returns from a visit to Spain and her mother recognizes her from a long way off and is thrilled to see her. They go sit in the garden, and Ernaux is reminded of a time when she was a child and her mother took her to see an elderly uncle in a hospital. They had all sat in the sun, and Annie Ernaux, as a child, had been proud and comforted by the presence of her mother. Ernaux observes (in retrospect) that her mother had never pampered herself, and while she was a religious woman, she also had a violent temper. The condition of Annie's mother's body reminds the author that she, too, will face old age. She sees herself as her mother is now.

Ernaux describes the smells of the nursing home and the behavior of the patients. She notes that...