i
- The narrator spots Plunkett in line at the bank the next day.
- He notes that Plunkett the pig farmer is really a lot like the other farmers in line at the bank, and that he never cared for the privilege others gave him.
- Plunkett finally sees him and stops to talk. It's an awkward moment for both of them.
- The Major invites him up to the house to see the quilt Maud had embroidered.
ii
- The narrator compares his motivation to write about Helen (woman and island) with Plunkett's and finds that it is really no different—somehow, it was for her.
- But did she really need their help and guilt?
- And then the big question after all these pages of verse: Why bother with the Homeric association anyway? Why not just see Helen as a beautiful woman? You know, just let Helen be Helen, for Pete's sake.
iii
- The real question for the narrator is this: Can he un-do the connection between Homer's works and his island's past?
- His education and own writing seems to be working against him, but he claims the privilege of doing what he wants.
- He is a poet, after all.