Chapter summaries And Yet Kate Baer

Chapter 33: L’esprit de l’escalier – Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The poem “L’esprit de l’escalier” opens with the dead expressing their distaste for the word almost. The dead find “almost” boring because it signals an experience that nearly happened but did not—like a laugh, a cry, or an orgasm. The speaker compares this to an adult telling someone that as a child they wanted to be a veterinarian; the speaker dismisses this as an unremarkable, universal childhood dream (“Everyone wanted to be a veterinarian, Carl”). The final lines shift tone: the speaker declares that only the sensory allure of bacon, steak, and scallops arranged on a dish would draw them to the afterlife. The phrase “l’esprit de l’escalier” itself refers to the witty comeback one thinks of too late, reinforcing the theme of missed timing and regret.

Key Events

The dead state their dislike of the word “almost.”
The speaker provides an example: comparing “almost” to a common childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian.
The poem concludes with the image of bacon, steak, and scallops as the sole reason the speaker would “come” to the afterlife.

Character Development

The Speaker (the dead): Adopts a sardonic, weary tone. They are unimpressed by unrealized potential and regard “almost” as a boring, overused concept. The final lines suggest a grudging attachment to sensual, earthly pleasures, hinting at a complex relationship with mortality.
Carl (addressee): Briefly named as the recipient of the veterinarian anecdote. Not developed further, but serves as a foil for the speaker’s cynicism.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Regret and Missed Opportunity: The word “almost” represents experiences that hover on the brink of fulfillment. The dead’s boredom with this word underscores a deeper fatigue with unrealized moments.
L’esprit de l’escalier (the spirit of the staircase): The French title refers to the phenomenon of thinking of the perfect retort too late. Extended metaphorically, the chapter dwells on belated realizations and the gap between intention and action.
Earthly Pleasures vs. Afterlife: Bacon, steak, and scallops symbolize the sensory, physical experiences that still hold power even for the dead. The contrast suggests that what we truly miss may be mundane rather than grand.
The Veterinarian Example: Highlights how common, clichéd aspirations become dismissible. The speaker uses it to mock the triviality of “almost” — everyone has a half-forgotten childhood dream.

Why This Chapter Matters

“L’esprit de l’escalier” condenses a central emotional thread of And Yet: the ache of near-misses and the paradoxical comfort of small, tangible pleasures. By giving voice to the dead, Baer turns the concept of “almost” into a meditation on what we truly value — not the grand unfulfilled ambitions, but the simple, embodied experiences. The poem reinforces the book’s exploration of loss, memory, and the lingering pull of the physical world.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does the dead character in the poem dislike the word “almost”?
The dead find “almost” boring because it signifies experiences that were narrowly missed — a laugh, a cry, an orgasm — without the fulfillment. The word itself becomes a symbol of life’s uncompleted moments, which the dead are tired of contemplating.
What point does the veterinarian example serve?
The speaker compares “almost” to someone saying they wanted to be a veterinarian as a child. The example deflates the seriousness of “almost” by showing how commonplace and forgettable such unrealized dreams are. It criticizes the tendency to romanticize near-misses.
How do the final lines about bacon, steak, and scallops shift the poem’s meaning?
The speaker admits that only physical, sensual pleasures — not emotional or intellectual ones — could draw them to the afterlife. This shift from abstract regret to concrete appetite suggests that the dead may still be bound by earthly desires, and that what we miss most may be simple, sensory joys.