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Part 3, Chapters 14-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Chapter 14 Summary
Ivan arrives at his father’s house in Kildare and is saddened by its emptiness. He picks up Alexei and brings him to Leitrim to meet Margaret. Margaret shares her fears that her relationship with Ivan is now the talk of the town. Ivan is angry that anyone might try to hurt Margaret’s feelings with unkindness. Later that night, Margaret tells Ivan that she will be in Dublin around the same time as his upcoming competition, around his birthday, so they agree to see each other and celebrate. Ivan fantasizes that Margaret will watch him win the competition.
Ivan returns to Kildare to stay in his father’s house and notices a light on in Peter’s room. He encounters a woman inside the house—Naomi, who introduces herself a friend of Peter’s. Over pizza, Naomi tells Ivan that Peter has called him a genius, which she has never heard him use to describe anyone else before.
Ivan gradually realizes the nature of Peter’s relationship to Naomi and is quietly shocked by how young she is. Naomi meanwhile learns that Peter has never mentioned her to Ivan, while Sylvia is so close to the Koubeks as to be considered part of their family. Ivan shows Naomi a picture to satisfy her curiosity—a graduation photo of Sylvia and Peter. In it, Peter looks almost identical to Ivan now.
Naomi looks at a photo of the Koubek family, recalling Peter’s distaste for his mother and observing the resemblance between Peter and his father. Naomi reveals how highly Peter thought of his father, which surprises Ivan. Ivan, conscious of the complicated dynamics between Peter, Sylvia, and Naomi, apologizes for his brother’s poor behavior—but Peter is not the worst man Naomi has ever met.
Naomi asks if Ivan blocked Peter’s number because of something to do with Ivan’s older girlfriend. Naomi apologizes on Peter’s behalf, suggesting that his behavior has been part of his grief response over losing his father. When she insists that Peter loves Ivan, Ivan gets upset. He tells her not to tell Peter that he is there.
In his room, Ivan embraces Alexei while engaging with his complicated feelings for Peter. Peter’s hypocrisy contrasts with Peter’s loneliness so much that Ivan becomes concerned that Peter might try to harm himself. In childhood, Ivan looked up to Peter, finding a companion in him while they visited Christine in their stepfather’s house. Following Sylvia’s accident, Peter became distraught, culminating in one late night when Ivan found Peter crying at the kitchen table. Peter implored Ivan to stay because he was scared and had no one to talk to, but Ivan ignored him and returned to his room. As Peter distanced himself from the family, Ivan came to hate Peter. Peter has withheld his emotions from his family ever since then. Now, Ivan begins to worry for Peter. Unsure what to do, he retreats into a game of chess on his phone.
Part 3, Chapter 15 Summary
Peter cleans up his apartment. He calls Sylvia, and they agree to meet up. Peter feels that he is overcoming the errors of his past ways.
At Sylvia’s, Peter tells her that he has broken up with Naomi in light of his relationship with Sylvia. Sylvia is upset—this isn’t what she wanted Peter to do. She always meant for their relationship to remain casual. Sylvia believes that Peter loves Naomi and suspects he is using Sylvia as an excuse to avoid being vulnerable, but Peter asserts that he really wants to be with Sylvia. When Sylvia remains firm that getting together will ruin his life, Peter claims that’s already happened. Sylvia bitterly apologizes and accuses Peter of trying to punish her for her faults. Peter slams an item from the mantelpiece onto the floor, prompting Sylvia to make him leave.
Peter buys vodka and lemonade to drink while having intrusive thoughts. He considers returning to Naomi to ask if they can be together again. He desires to disappear from Dublin, sparing himself from the humiliation of his actions. Drunk on the train, he recalls fonder times with Sylvia.
Peter enters the house and is surprised to find Ivan and Alexei there. Naomi has gone out to meet friends. Ivan confronts Peter about his hypocrisy, but then asks if Peter really thinks that Ivan is a genius. Peter does; Ivan himself does not. Peter apologizes for being so harsh the last time they spoke, but Ivan further calls Peter out for failing to respect him. This provokes Peter to criticize Ivan’s regressive opinions. They fight over Ivan’s immaturity, the importance of behavior and belief, their respective relationships, and their understanding of one another. Ivan resents Peter for giving the eulogy at their father’s funeral. When Ivan accuses Peter of disrespecting their father, Peter claims that he has devoted his life to looking out for Ivan and their father without having anyone else to turn to for support. He accuses the two of them of being ungrateful to him.
Ivan shoves Peter. Peter slaps Ivan’s face. When Ivan returns the blow, Peter grabs him and throws him onto the floor. Peter nearly kicks Ivan while he is down, but stops when he sees Ivan’s bloody lip and fear in his eyes.
Peter blames Ivan for their fight as he walks away from the house. He regrets what he said about their father, who wasn’t perfect, but tried to be good. He calls Ivan, but his number is still blocked. Peter calls Christine instead and asks her to call Ivan and check on him, admitting that they just had a fight. Peter feels embarrassed about running to his mother when he accused Ivan of still being a child. Christine reports that Ivan is okay; he didn’t mention the fight.
At Christine’s house, Peter mentions that he just broke up with a girlfriend and that she is staying in the house in Kildare. He admits to hitting Ivan. Christine assures Peter that he and his father loved each other. Peter weeps, so Christine further reassures him that he and Ivan will reconcile.
Part 3, Chapters 14-15 Analysis
Early in the novel, it is established that Peter and Ivan occupy two separate worlds that never overlap or intersect. These chapters represent Ivan’s breach into Peter’s world, accidentally meeting Naomi without Peter to mediate or control the encounter. That control has been key to Peter’s management of his relationships, limiting Sylvia, Naomi, and Ivan’s understanding of one another by curating information—so much so that Peter has told Ivan nothing about Naomi. This makes the fact that Sylvia is aware of Naomi seem self-serving: Peter talks about Naomi to gain Sylvia’s approval, but there is no practical advantage in telling Ivan about her. Ivan finds similarity with Peter, understanding that Peter hasn’t told him anything about Naomi for the same reason he was outraged about Margaret’s age. Peter is afraid of the humiliation that being with Naomi could cast on Ivan’s opinion of him, which shows the extent to which Sibling Dynamics and Romantic Relationships overlap.
Rather than attempting to understand them fully, Peter makes assumptions about the desires of the women in his life—as indicated by the novel not giving them the opportunity to take over the narrative perspective. Here, he experiences the consequences of relying only on his own idea of Sylvia and Naomi. Acting upon signs that convinced him to pursue his relationship with Sylvia, such as their sexual encounter and the sweetness with which Sylvia responded to the idea of marriage, Peter breaks up with Naomi. However, Peter’s sense of self falls apart when he realizes he misinterpreted these gestures as signs, and has been motivated by guilt over using Sylvia to fulfill his emotional needs. When Sylvia disabuses him of the idea that she wants to be in a traditionally committed relationship, the contradiction of her words and her behavior exposes The Limits of Language. Peter is lost once again, unsure how to navigate the difference between what people say and what they mean.
The Peter-Sylvia-Naomi dynamic has become a cycle: After a difficult encounter with Sylvia, Peter’s first instinct is to run back to Naomi, which perpetuates self-loathing, until he reconciles with Sylvia. This pattern recurs in Chapters 5, 6, and 9. However, this time, Rooney interrupts the cycle by bringing Peter into Ivan’s path. The unexpected confrontation allows the brothers to hash out their resentments. The fight reveals the fraternal dynamic in new ways. Peter sees himself as a protector for his family, extending care to others—a trait he has carried through to his law career—without knowing how to also extend that care to himself. Instead, Peter requires other people to validate him. When Ivan refused to provide that validation after finding Peter crying in the kitchen, Peter stopped seeking sympathy from his family and found it with Sylvia, which drives her importance in his life. Peter is really nostalgic about the past because it was the only time in his life he felt validated by all of the important people in his life.
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