Individual Reading №3

Chapters 21-30

 

The narrator invited Strickland to the restaurant and used the behavior of indifference to get information from him. It was a successful method and soon the former found out what he wanted. Charles opened his mind and seemed as a man without human feelings but with abnormal passion. He did not care about his family, his apartments and money and was interested in art. The only he wanted to draw despite he liked neither of his own pictures. Moreover, he even went against the narrator to see the pictures. The narrator needed money but also refused to show them to the narrator buy one.

Charles’ character let him say what he wanted to anyone and Dirk Stroeve was one of his targets. The former found Dirk’s weakest point and hit there. The nature of Stroeve did not let him to be offended at his words for a long time and new and new grins towards him changed nothing. One day the narrator and Dirk decided to search for Charles because did not see him for a month. It emerged that the latter was very ill and because of his conditions Stroeve decided to bring him at his house. However, Mrs. Stroeve was strongly disagree and looked for something bad with Strickland’s coming. She hated him with her whole heart but had to give up and even care of Charles. She and her husband spent all days near his bed but had never heard words of thankfulness.

One day Dirk came to the narrator in a grief and informed him that Mrs. Stroeve had left him because of her love to Mr. Strickland. Despite of Dirk’s attempts to talk around her, the woman had chosen Charles. Dirk loved his wife more than himself and let them life in the Stroeve’s house. He himself happened to have no home and no wife.