Belacqua is studying Dante's Paradiso one morning and is having great difficulty with the canti in the moon. He has been able to make it through the first part without much difficulty, but he has become hopelessly bogged down in the second part. Although he is bored, he refuses to quit and instead forces himself to understand the meaning of the words that are in front of him. He continues to work diligently until he hears the clock signal that it is mid-day. As the clock chimes, he emphatically closes the book and puts it aside.

Freed from the rigors of his studies, Belacqua contemplates how to spend the rest of the day. It seems that there is always something to be done, and in Belecqua's case these things include having lunch, getting a lobster, and then going for his Italian lesson. He isn't sure...