Intermezzo

Wondering how the fight would have ended if their father were still around, Ivan remains furious about the disrespect Peter expressed for him and their gentle father. The fight makes Ivan realize how capable of cruelty they are in the absence of their father, which upsets his sense of reality.

Christine calls Ivan. Ivan reports that he has been practicing for his upcoming competition. She asks if he is seeing anyone. Ivan doesn’t want to talk about it or to spend the holidays with his stepfather’s family in Scotland. Christine is concerned that Ivan will be alone for the holidays.

Humiliated by his brother’s strength, Ivan despises Peter. He also fears life going on without his father, who no longer exists in the material world but in the world of memory. Ivan calls Margaret, whose mother has had a predictably bad reaction to her relationship with Ivan. When Ivan asks if he is ruining her life, Margaret detects that something is wrong. Ivan reports the fight he had with Peter and weeps over the criticisms Peter made about their father. He has been unable to accept his father’s death, regrets everything he failed to do for him, and worries that if he forgets his father, he will wipe him away from existence.