Chapters Twenlve through Fourteen Summary and Analysis

Le Ly, having left her job at the hospital and refusing a job as a topless danger, soon finds a job in a large trailer that touts gambling tables. On her way to work one night she meets a civil service employee named Jim who tells her that he'll take care of her and her family if she will live with him and care for him as his wife. She agrees after some initial hesitation and finds him loving to her and her son who they are soon calling Jimmy. He pays for a housekeeper for her mother so that she has nothing to do but care for the child and they often take Jimmy to the apartment they share for a night or a weekend. Then Jim's drinking increases and he is violent, accusing...