The Sea

Max amuses himself by observing the Colonel’s daily routine and the dynamics at the guest house. He is increasingly convinced that the Colonel has feelings for Miss Vavasour and sees Max as a rival. Max sardonically describes the unappetizing dinner served by Miss Vavasour and the digestive struggles faced by himself and the Colonel, followed by an evening in the TV room where the three watch a nature documentary. A discussion of elephants leads in Max’s mind to a series of violent, murderous fantasies and a profanity-laden apostrophe to an anonymous addressee (apparently Anna or Chloe or a combination of the two). Max is shocked by his thoughts and complains of having found himself “floundering in [his] own foulness” (196).

Max realizes that the Cedars reminds him of the guesthouses where he and his mother lived after his father left them for a life in England. His mother struggled to find employment and pay for necessities, while Max felt a kind of nostalgic yearning for the various places from which his father sent them postal orders. They eventually received a letter from another woman informing them of his death.

Max discusses his increasingly heavy drinking. He attributes it to his bereavement, his lack of ambition and talent, and feeling “uncertain and astray” and in need of “oblivion” (200).