The Fall

Clamence and his cher ami go for a walk the next evening. Clamence shares how the strange laughter made him avoid the Paris quays. He fell into a depression and began taking stimulants to treat it. Clamence comments on the beauty of Amsterdam’s canals and recalls visiting Sicily. He likes islands because it is easier to dominate them.

The two pass by a house that used to belong to an enslaver. The old sign outside the building features the carved heads of enslaved African people. Clamence loves slavery and wishes the enslavers of today could boast about owning enslaved people. Clamence believes slavery is a necessity for humans. He explains that the pecking order between husband and wife, wife and child, and child and dog, allows each person to have someone “below” them to abuse. Clamence values power and domination more than anything. He avoids situations that make him powerless, such as being the only white person in a room with people of color. Slavery is an inevitability to him.

Clamence reflects on his life in Paris. He was vain and self-centered, and nothing mattered to him at that time. He watched life go by and only interacted with life when circumstances made him do so.