Section 12 Summary

This section begins with the phrase, "As if I knew were I was going..."

Bardamu compares Manhattan's banks to Europe's cathedrals. Just like in church, the faithful bank customers enter and go to a small booth where they whisper through the grill, just like one goes to whisper one's confession. Then they put the holy bread near their hearts...safe in their wallets, instead of in their mouths.

Bardamu ungenerously comments on what he observes about the New Yorkers; the men have monotonous, broad faces and the women look only at the shop windows. Bardamu checks into a grand and luxurious hotel where he is assigned to a tiny room on the top floor. Observing his neighbors, he is surprised at how tired the Americans look and how little the couples speak to each other. They strike him as "fat docile animals, used...