Section 21 Summary

This section begins with the sentence, "Why struggle, waiting is good enough, since everything is bound to end up in the street."

While employed at the Tarapout, Bardamu leads a worry-free, decadent life. Bardamu takes up residence in a hotel and finds himself among students who all share the same hope of achieving happiness within twenty years, from hard work. The students already see themselves "at the last square, surrounded by a small but incomparably precious family," which they would, however, seldom notice. These students would not venture into the world's darker corners, but they would only read about them in the morning papers. Still, some of the students are familiar with the various brothels in Paris and so they show Bardamu around these areas. Bardamu meets a pimp named Pomone, who has seen so many perverse desires that he has developed a...