Chapter 37 (Chapter 9): Father, Work, and Lies

⚠️ 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

Chapter 9 opens with the narrator (Ida) describing her father's involvement in producing a "subversive almanac" — a calendar of anarchist holidays replacing religious and patriotic dates with those relevant to the cause, such as Bakunin's birthday, the execution of Giordano Bruno, the fall of the Bastille, and various strikes and uprisings. Her father is a main provider of this almanacco sovversivo in New York and even prints a limited "deluxe" edition, a contradiction Ida never dares mention.

After May Day, the most important holiday in this calendar is August 23, the day Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed. For Ida's father, this date also has a private meaning because 23 is his lucky number. It is now July, a period of feverish activity as he finishes commemorative prints for the anniversary. Ida usually helps, but this year she is sequestered in her room trying to turn Mildred Bevel's "tenuous ghost" into a tangible human being for the biography Andrew Bevel has commissioned.

They eat quick meals together standing at the kitchen counter, sharing open-faced sandwiches and fruit without plates, using only a single rusty "good knife." At first her father refuses to discuss her work at the "speculative machine," but after their last conversation he softens. As he sees how hard she applies herself, his respect grows — "work" is the standard by which he measures worth, and he comes to see her as a "worker."

His respect brings curiosity. Their lunches lengthen as he asks about the technical side of her job. He marvels that they have both ended up working with type: a typesetter and a typist. They discuss how their trades shape perception. Ida describes how typing has changed her experience of time: the word she is typing is always in the past while the word she is thinking of is always in the future, leaving the present uninhabited. Her father relates, explaining that as he feeds type into his composing stick he is already spotting the next piece; "now" does not seem to exist. He also says typesetting taught him to see the world backward — something typesetters and revolutionaries share: they know the matrix of the world is reversed.

These abstract conversations become more specific as her father demands details about her job. Ida avoids lying but fills her vague accounts with irrelevant details. Her father senses she is hiding something, and the warmth fades. He retreats into hostile silence.

One evening Ida makes a proper dinner and sets the table. Despite his gratitude, he warns her this won't win him over. Midway through the meal she apologizes for not being forthcoming, saying she fears how he will react and that she signed secrecy papers. She then tells an elaborate lie about top-secret transcripts of board meetings discussing conspiratorial takeovers with Washington's complicity, using financial terms she just learned from Bevel. Her father is riveted. Ida feels like a traitor, having sided with one of her father's sworn enemies instead of being loyal to him.

Key Events

Ida's father works on anarchist commemorative prints for Sacco and Vanzetti's execution date (August 23).
Ida is isolated in her room writing Mildred Bevel's biography for Andrew Bevel.
She and her father share brief, frugal meals using a single rusty knife.
Her father's respect for her grows as he sees her dedication to "work."
They discover parallels between typesetting and typing, particularly a shared sense of time and seeing the world backward.
Ida evades her father's questions about her job, causing tension.
Ida confesses and then lies, claiming she transcribes secret board meetings about conspiratorial takeovers.

Character Development

Ida: She struggles between loyalty to her father and her commitment to Bevel's confidentiality. Her lie deepens her internal conflict, and she recognizes herself as a "traitor." This chapter shows her ability to craft convincing narratives — a skill that serves the biography but offends her personal ethics.

Ida's father: He is a principled anarchist who measures people solely by their work. For the first time he shows genuine curiosity about his daughter's professional life, but his warmth vanishes when he suspects deception. His hostile silence is a recurring defense mechanism. The chapter reveals his reverence for revolutionary dates and his belief in a reversed world order.

Andrew Bevel (mentioned): Though absent, his influence looms through the confidentiality agreements and the financial jargon Ida uses to deceive her father.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Work as Moral Worth: Her father considers "work" the highest honor; seeing Ida as a "worker" is his ultimate respect. This theme unites their otherwise opposing worlds.
Time and Perception: The discussion of typing and typesetting reveals how both characters experience time as disjointed — past and future occupying the now. The idea of seeing the world backward echoes the anarchist view that conventional reality is inverted.
Secrecy and Betrayal: Ida's lie about board meetings highlights the growing divide between her allegiance to her father and her obligation to Bevel. The word "trust" in the chapter is ironic — she cannot fully trust her father with the truth, and she betrays his trust by fabricating stories.
The Good Knife: This rattling, broken knife symbolizes the family's frugal, hardscrabble life and the shared but imperfect bond between father and daughter.
The Subversive Almanac: A motif of counter-narrative — a calendar that rejects mainstream holidays in favor of anarchist history, mirroring the book's concern with rewriting and reclaiming stories.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 9 deepens our understanding of Ida's background and the moral complexity of her role as Bevel's secretary-biographer. It shows how her father's radical politics clash with the capitalist world she now inhabits, setting up a personal conflict that will echo later in the novel. The shared reflections on time and work also illuminate the novel's broader meditation on how narratives are constructed — backward, selectively, and under pressure. Ida's lie foreshadows the larger deceptions woven into the book's multiple accounts.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does August 23 hold special significance for Ida's father?

August 23 is the anniversary of the execution of anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti by the state. For Ida's father, it also has private meaning because 23 is his lucky number, which he endows with powerful and mystical qualities.

2. What insight does Ida share about how typing has changed her sense of time?

Ida explains that the word she is typing is always in the past while the word she is thinking of is always in the future, which leaves the present uninhabited. Her father relates to this: as he feeds one piece of type into his composing stick, he is already spotting the next piece, so "now" does not seem to exist for him either.

3. What lie does Ida tell her father about her work, and why does she feel like a traitor?

Ida lies that she transcribes top-secret board meetings about complex business maneuvers and conspiratorial takeovers with Washington's complicity. She feels like a traitor because instead of being loyal to her father (who sees such secretive capitalism as an enemy), she has sided with Andrew Bevel, one of her father's sworn enemies.