October, 1941 Summary and Analysis

14, Once again in this chapter Anais Nin reveals how her maternal care-taking side can so easily overwhelm her. The chapter opens with the arrival of her devil-may-care brother from South America for hand surgery, following a scuffle aboard an airplane transporting a "madman" to an asylum in the U.S. Her brother Thorvald suffered a broken finger and subvsequent infection, that required amputation. Upon her arrival home she receives a call from Luise Rainer who narcissistically wants to come and talk about her career, her love life and her health. "Luise and I permit a friendship or a love to possess us completely, to rule our life, and others' needs must be answered immediately," she writes in her diary. She laments that she "lost" her friend Robert because she had nothing left to give him. In another encounter with Luise Rainer...