The Garden of Eden

David and Marita return to the hotel to find Catherine’s car parked in the driveway. Marita goes to her room, and David finds Catherine drinking in the bar. When she sees David, she insultingly asks about Marita. She then insults David’s “dreary dismal little stories” (151), his father, and his career. She goes to find Marita while David privately thinks that his writing is going as well as planned. He likes the work he has produced in recent weeks; he feels that he is “breaking through” his previous limitations (152), and his writing means more to him than “anything else” (153). He decides to search for Catherine and Marita. He finds them together in Marita’s bed. Although they invite David to join them, David declines and suggests that they go swimming. They watch navy ships perform an exercise at sea. At the beach, Catherine’s mood has changed. She dismisses her earlier insults as mere jokes, but she cannot help but level another attack against David’s work. She jokes that David is unfaithful to her with his review clippings. She insults his command of grammar, asking whether he is essentially “illiterate” in French (157).