Chapter summaries The Margaret Atwood 4-Book Bundle Margaret Atwood

Chapter 185 (41) Summary and 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

Roz has lunch with her husband, Mitch, at a restaurant called Nereids, a seafood place on Queen East decorated with paintings of naked women and mythological figures. Mitch chose the spot; the hostess greets him familiarly. Roz feels intimidated by the WASP-y ambiance and reflects on her own immigrant heritage—her father was Jewish, her mother Irish and Scots—contrasting it with Mitch’s likely cabin-class ancestors.

This triggers a long flashback to their first date. Roz was almost twenty-two, working in her father’s real estate business, still living at home. Mitch was a neophyte lawyer in the firm handling her father’s deals. She found him devastatingly handsome and was awed. Their first dinner was awkward; she told a joke, he put his hand on her knee. They ended up necking in her car, then at his apartment, where he abruptly proposed—saying he “respected her too much” to sleep with her before marriage. Roz agreed, despite feeling frustrated and manipulated.

Her father warned her with the cryptic phrase “Two cripples do not make one dancer,” but Roz ignored him. The marriage happened; the honeymoon in Mexico was passionate, and Roz believes Mitch’s motives included some love, though she now acknowledges her money was a factor.

Back in the present, Mitch flirts with the waitress. Suddenly Roz recognizes her as Zenia, an old school acquaintance. Zenia explains she is a waitress as research for an article on sexual harassment in the workplace. Then Zenia drops a bombshell: Roz’s father saved Zenia’s life during the war. Roz is desperate to hear the story, despite her distrust of Zenia.

Key Events

Roz and Mitch arrive at Nereids; Roz notes the owner’s explicit mythological paintings.
Roz inwardly contrasts her multi-ethnic, immigrant past with Mitch’s privileged background.
Flashback to Roz’s first date with Mitch: her nerves, his proposal, her father’s skepticism.
Flashback details Roz’s early career in her father’s business and her sexual history.
Back in the present, Zenia appears as a waitress and reveals she is a journalist researching sexual harassment.
Zenia tells Roz that her father saved Zenia’s life during World War II.
Roz feels torn between skepticism and a longing to believe her father was a hero.

Character Development

Roz (Roz Grunwald/ Rosalind): The chapter deepens her self-awareness. She sees herself as a “suck” for submitting to Mitch’s charm and for downplaying her own intellect. Her insecurity about her class and ethnicity is laid bare. Yet she also shows resilience, acerbic humor, and a fierce desire to know the truth about her father.
Mitch: He remains an enigma—seductive yet controlling. His choice of the restaurant, his easy familiarity with the hostess, and his flirting with the waitress reveal a man comfortable with power and objectification. The flashback underscores how he used delayed gratification to secure Roz’s devotion.
Zenia (first appearance in this timeline): She enters as a glamorous, mysterious figure. Her claim of a debt to Roz’s father immediately complicates her role. She is calculating, confident, and knows exactly how to hook Roz’s interest.
Roz’s father (Grunwald): Though absent, his presence looms. He is depicted as shrewd, protective, and ethnic—a man who built an empire but could not fully shield his daughter. The suggestion that he performed a wartime rescue adds a heroic gloss to his character.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Class and Immigration: Roz’s internal conflict between her “new money” background and Mitch’s old-money WASP gentility dominates the chapter. The restaurant’s art, her mother’s doilies, and the repeated references to “boats” all underscore her feeling of being an outsider.
Power Dynamics in Marriage: Mitch’s initial proposal—offering marriage as a form of respect while denying sex—establishes a pattern of control. Roz now reflects that “there are jumpers and jumpees,” and she was firmly placed in the latter category.
Memory and Heroism: The chapter sets up a central mystery: is Zenia’s story about Roz’s father true? Roz’s hunger for a heroic narrative about her immigrant father reveals her need for a legacy beyond money.
The Male Gaze and Sexuality: The restaurant’s decor—innumerable paintings of naked women and mermaids—literalizes the male gaze. Mitch’s casual flirting with the waitresses, and Roz’s own earlier history with sexual encounters, explore how women navigate a world designed for male desire.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter enriches Roz’s backstory and explains her ambivalent feelings toward Mitch. It also serves as the narrative re-entry point for Zenia, a character who will drive much of the novel’s conflict. The flashback to Roz’s courtship illuminates her insecurities, her father’s protective instincts, and the transactional nature of her marriage. Simultaneously, Zenia’s revelation introduces a new layer of mystery around Roz’s family history and tests Roz’s judgment. In the broader novel, this chapter deepens Roz’s psychological complexity and sets the stage for the revelations to come.

Study Questions and Answers

Question: How does the restaurant Nereids reflect Mitch’s personality and the power dynamics between him and Roz? Answer: Nereids is decorated with overtly sexualized mythological paintings of naked women and mermaids. Mitch chose the restaurant and is greeted by the hostess with familiarity, indicating his comfort with such an environment. Roz, in contrast, feels embarrassed and out of place, having to rationalize the paintings as “capital-A Art.” This setting underscores Mitch’s sense of entitlement and the way he subtly controls their interactions, while Roz struggles to assert her own voice within his world.
Question: Why does Roz’s father tell Mitch, “Two cripples do not make one dancer”? What does this reveal about his view of the marriage? Answer: The cryptic remark suggests that both Roz and Mitch come to the marriage with weaknesses—Roz’s ethnic background and emotional vulnerability, Mitch’s possible financial and character flaws—and that combining them will not lead to a harmonious partnership. It reveals her father’s deep skepticism about Mitch’s motives and his fear that Roz will be hurt. Roz dismisses the warning at the time, but later wonders what cracks her father saw that she missed.
Question: What effect does Zenia’s claim—that Roz’s father saved her life during the war—have on Roz? Why is she both eager and reluctant to believe it? Answer: Roz has always wanted confirmation that her father, a Jewish immigrant businessman, was a hero rather than a shady dealmaker. Zenia’s words offer that validation. Yet Roz is suspicious of Zenia’s motives and uncertain about Zenia’s age (could she have been born during the war?). The revelation grates because it comes from a person Roz distrusts, and it makes Roz feel that her father left an emotional inheritance to a stranger rather than to her. The conflict between hope and wariness drives Roz’s desire to hear the full story.