Part 4, Chapter 17-18 Summary

Chapter seventeen opens with Sarah talking to her mother about Prior and relationships in general. Sarah's mother holds the view that love cannot exist between a man and woman. She says that men love women in the way a fox loves a hare, women love men in the way a tapeworm loves the gut. She also tells Sarah that one in every ten condoms gets a hole poked in it by some guy with a pin in the factory. She obviously disapproves of Prior and tells her daughter so. She is certain that Prior only wants her for sex and that her daughter is a fool for falling for him.

Sassoon meets Graves for drinks at a bar. They discuss his life at Craiglockhart, and Sassoon tells Graves he has decided to return to the front. Sarah goes to...