“He was miserable, though he did not know it, because he had let her go alone.”

William’s relationship with his mother functions as the prototype for his brother Paul’s attachment and dependency. Like Paul, William shares a close bond with his mother that he cannot quite put into words. At a young age, he lacks the mental tools necessary to describe why he is miserable, as he is not yet aware of how his relationship with his mother affects everything in his life. William’s misery foreshadows Paul’s misery at being separated from his mother, while William’s inability to articulate the reason for this misery also foreshadows much of the suffering that Paul will endure.

“In her weariness forgetting everything, she moved about at the little tasks that remained to be done.”

During one fight, the drunken Walter locks his pregnant wife out of the house. When he finally lets her inside, he flees to bed in shame. Gertrude is so exhausted by her domestic life that her body reflexively returns to the chores that define her existence. Unable to fight, unable to expend any more energy, and unwilling to return to bed to sleep beside a husband she hates, she performs her household chores. The routine of the chores offers some comfort at a time when she faces abuse.