Everything Is Illuminated

Chapter Warning: The source material uses outdated, offensive terms for Romani people throughout, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes of the source material. These chapters also depict genocidal violence.

Safran and Maya have sex in the cellar. He wonders if he could've been a good person if things were different. We then learn Safran’s personal history. He was born with teeth, so he could not breastfeed. As a result, he was malnourished and he cannot move his right arm. In some cases, his disability keeps him safe, stopping him from doing dangerous things like working in the flour mill or fighting in the army. The women in the village also find his motionless arm attractive, and by the time we meet him, he has slept with more than 40 women in Trachimbrod and beyond.

Safran, at the age of 10, is seduced by a widow and becomes a regular visitor to her house. In the end, he is paid to visit her and other widows by the Slouchers, who do not know that sex is part of these visits. Although Safran keeps a journal, he never writes about his affairs. The second woman he has sex with is also a widow, but a young one who was not yet married when her fiancée died and is a virgin.