Summary and Analysis

"The Comet" begins with a description of the town. Winter is finally dying out. Touya, the mad girl from August is teased by boys; Adela looks out from the balcony with nothing to do. The fashionable people show off their style in the streets. The narrator's brother brings an electro magnet home from school. Everyone is fascinated except for Jacob, whose sees it as evidence of what he already knows: that all matter has life.

A comet is visible in the sky over the narrator's hometown. Surrounding this entertaining event, the narrator recalls his father's attempts at invention and science. Inspired by various inventions that are popular in the community, Jacob begins experimenting with wires, zinc and copper. His obsession with matter and the essence of being takes a more scientific turn. The narrator says that while the world...