Something that really stuck out to me in this reading was the descriptions of Louise’s body by the narrator. The way she is described in a lot of passages seems to be flawed, but they are flaws that our narrator loves. Things that she loves Louise for, not things that she loves Louise in spite of. This reminded me of sonnet 130 by Shakespeare. Both authors describe flaws that their lovers have, and they may recognize that they are flaws, but they don’t necessarily see them as such.
Some of the descriptions are not even necessarily flaws, but just things that can be gross to think about in regard to the human body. Like the passage about the epidermis being all dead skin cells and the quote “The dead you is constantly being rubbed away by the dead me” (123). The passage then goes on to describe dead skin cells flaking away off her body. These types of descriptions, and the way our narrator loves Louise for them, makes me think of the classical vs grotesque body. The grotesque body is natural to everyone, but most are grossed out by it. Our narrator is not grossed out by it but rather fascinated by it and Louise’s “grotesque body” seems to be something that the narrator misses most. I think this could be because they were such a sexual couple and the idea of knowing someone’s “grotesque body” is, in a way, even more intimate than sex
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