Chapter 17 Summary and Analysis

Spoiler Alert: This summary and analysis contains full plot details for Chapter 17 of Intermezzo.

Summary

Peter wakes hungover in his sister Christine’s empty house, alone with the memory of assaulting Ivan the night before. Dragging himself toward Dublin, he obsessively imagines painless suicide methods, feeling that every apology he has ever made has been worthless. Soaking and hollow, he returns to his flat to discover Naomi and Sylvia waiting inside. The shock triggers a fainting spell; they revive him, joke about his “girlfriends unionising,” and feed him biscuits. Over tea and halting conversation, Peter admits to Sylvia that without her his life means nothing; she replies that they need each other too much to keep clinging this way. She tells him she loves him but cannot be his lover, and insists he should be with Naomi. When they are alone, Naomi confesses she was terrified by his disappearance, and that her own feelings, once carefully hidden behind transactional games, have become real. They exchange declarations of love.

Later, walking along the canal, Sylvia apologises for her cruelty: she never truly wanted Peter to move on, and has been jealous of Naomi’s youth and health. She proposes, tentatively, that the three of them attempt an arrangement. Peter is horrified and calls it unrealistic, but the idea lingers. Days later, he attends Ivan’s chess tournament, uninvited. In the hotel lobby he meets Margaret, Ivan’s partner, and is humbled by her grace. When Ivan wins his second IM norm, Margaret goes inside to tell him Peter is waiting. Ivan emerges, they embrace, and exchange tearful apologies. Ivan invites Peter to Christmas in Kildare with Margaret, and Peter accepts. The chapter closes with Peter walking home, feeling that nothing is fixed but life must be lived, forgivably and openly.

Key Events

Peter wakes alone in Christine’s spare room, weighing methods of suicide on the train.
He finds Naomi and Sylvia together in his flat and faints from shock and dehydration.
Sylvia tends to Peter; she and Naomi teasingly dub his situation “unionised girlfriends.”
Peter confesses his overwhelming need for Sylvia; she insists he belongs with Naomi.
Naomi admits she was scared, that she loves him, and he reciprocates.
On a walk, Sylvia confesses her jealousy and proposes a three-way arrangement; Peter resists.
Peter goes to Ivan’s tournament, meets Margaret, and witnesses Ivan’s chess victory.
Ivan and Peter reconcile; Ivan invites Peter to Christmas, and Peter accepts, weeping.

Character Development

Peter: Slides from suicidal despair into a tentative acceptance of his messy affections. His collapse forces him to stop hiding from the women he loves. By facing Sylvia’s and Naomi’s honesty, and by reconciling with Ivan, he begins to believe that his life, however tangled, is worth continuing without a pretense of a single solution.
Sylvia: Drops the role of stoic self-sacrifice. She admits she never wanted Peter to find someone else, that she has been jealous and cruel. Her suggestion of an arrangement, though fraught, shows she is willing to risk an unconventional shape for love rather than lose him entirely.
Naomi: Moves from game-playing to genuine vulnerability. She acknowledges that she, too, got her feelings involved, and that she was terrified when Peter vanished. Her “I love you” is offered without irony, and she stays with him even after hearing the depth of his bond with Sylvia.
Ivan: Offers Peter the forgiveness Peter cannot give himself. He initiates the embrace, says “I love you too,” and extends the Christmas invitation, signalling that brotherhood can survive violence and misunderstanding.
Margaret: Acts as a catalyst for Peter’s reevaluation. Her quiet dignity and immediate kindness force Peter to see that he has misjudged Ivan’s life. She makes no remonstrance, simply trusts that Peter will wait, and her gesture bridges the brothers.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Suicide as escape renounced: Peter’s hyper-rational fantasies of “12 simple pain-free methods” are interrupted by the shock of being found. His fainting becomes a physical surrender that pulls him back into relationship.
Naming and the unsayable: Peter reflects on Wittgenstein’s picture of naming: how the word “girlfriend” bundles assumptions that fail to capture his reality. The chapter insists that there is a third possibility between the names society offers.
The chessboard as life: Ivan’s tournament victory—captured on a live feed Peter follows without understanding—mirrors the opaque patterns of love and grief. The board goes dark just as the game ends; Peter must step into the room to actually know what is possible.
The bridge and the river: Sylvia and Peter’s conversation on the canal bridge literalises a crossing-point. The dark water below and the uncertain sky above underline that no clean end exists, only the next step.
Candlestick and apology: The memory of striking Ivan haunts Peter. His repeated apologies fail until he finally hears “I’m sorry as well” from Ivan, breaking the cycle of blame.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 17 is the emotional hinge of the novel. Peter’s suicidal bottom forces every suppressed truth into the open: his love for two women, Sylvia’s jealousy, Naomi’s authentic feelings, and the rift with Ivan. Without this collapse, none of the reconciliations—romantic, existential, fraternal—could occur. The chapter refuses tidy solutions. Sylvia’s suggestion of an arrangement and Ivan’s invitation to a Christmas that includes “whoever would want to come” provide a precarious but real scaffolding for the future. Peter’s final walk, quoting Hamlet’s “thou know’st ’tis common,” accepts mortality and chooses to live inside the tangle, not outside it.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Peter faint when he sees Sylvia and Naomi together?
He has been spiralling through shame, exhaustion, and suicidal ideation after assaulting Ivan. The sight of the two women who represent his deepest emotional conflicts—both of whom he loves and both of whom he has failed—overwhelms him physically. The faint is a bodily short-circuit that makes continuing his flight from himself impossible.
What does Sylvia mean when she says, “I think we both have to let each other go,” and why does she later propose an “arrangement”?
Sylvia initially frames release as the only path back to sanity: she believes Peter should be with Naomi because she herself cannot offer a full physical relationship. But during the canal walk she confesses she never really wanted him to leave. The contradiction reveals her real desire: not separation, but a redefinition of what belonging looks like. The “arrangement” is an attempt to hold onto love without demanding that it fit a single name.
How does the meeting with Margaret change Peter’s understanding of his brother?
Peter has assumed Ivan’s world is childish or unworthy. Meeting Margaret—beautiful, poised, tender—forces him to recognise that Ivan has built a serious and generous love. He realises he “could have been so wrong about everything.” Margaret’s refusal to condemn Peter, even knowing the history, opens the door for Ivan’s forgiveness and the Christmas invitation that finally mends the sibling bond.

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