Short Fiction · Chapter
XI explained
Gordon Sterrett awakens in a cheap hotel room, hungover and in despair, and realizes he has married Jewel Hudson.
What happens
Gordon Sterrett awakens in a cheap hotel room, hungover and in despair, and realizes he has married Jewel Hudson. He buys a revolver, returns to his room, and commits suicide.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
Val reaches his emotional and psychological peak in this passage as he confronts the painful gap between his r…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Ambition and Disillusionment
Gordon Sterrett's despair and suicide reflect the collapse of his ambitions and the disillusionment of his life.
Characters to notice
- Gordon Sterrett
Awakens in a hotel room, realizes he is married to Jewel Hudson, and commits suicide.
Key passages
“In a bedroom of a small hotel just off Sixth Avenue Gordon Sterrett awoke with a pain in the back of his head and a sick throbbing in all his veins.”
Gordon Sterrett woke up in a small hotel room near Sixth Avenue, suffering from a headache and a pounding pulse.
Describes Gordon's physical state upon waking.
“He went out half an hour later and bought a revolver at a sporting goods store. Then he took a taxi to the room where he had been living on East Twenty-seventh Street, and, leaning across the table that held his drawing materials, fired a cartridge into his head just behind the temple.”
Thirty minutes later, he purchased a revolver from a sporting goods store, took a taxi to his former residence on East 27th Street, and shot himself in the head over his drawing table.
Details Gordon's suicide.
