In the first chapter, Fausto, a cultured yet action-inhibited man, had returned to Bobbio following his mother’s death. In his interactions with the townspeople, he had been unable to restrain himself from expressing his inappropriate opinions candidly. In this second chapter, set three years later, he has never left Bobbio and now lives in his mother’s house, overwhelmed by books. He has aged and fallen into poverty, does not work or have a pension, and must sell the house.