Erasure

Monk arrives back home in Los Angeles. At night, he has a dream that his sister is trying to tell him something. The next morning, he receives a letter from his agent about another rejection of his latest novel, stating that is “difficult for the market” (42).

Monk’s academic semester ends, and he receives news that he has been promoted to professor. Nevertheless, he is still disappointed about the rejection of his novel. On the phone, his agent tells him he is not “black enough” but Monk cannot see why that matters. Monk mentions Jenkins’s book, calling her a “hack” who cannot write.

Later, Lorraine, his mother’s caretaker, calls Monk and tells him that Lisa is dead—somebody shot her. Monk calls his brother Bill, who has also heard the news, and they agree to meet at their mother’s house. Monk thinks he must go back to Washington and try to understand what Lorraine means and why his sister will not be there. He wonders how sentences can be understood.

Monk recalls when he first realized that his brother was gay. Monk knew their parents would reject him, especially their father. He recalls an incident at a diner when a group of bullies harassed two French men who were a couple. Monk stepped in to defend them, but the men were well-built, and the bullies ran away.

Then, Monk thinks of Lisa. He goes back to Washington, and when he enters his mother’s house, the memories return. Bill tells him that an anti-abortionist shot Lisa. Their mother is at a loss.

Monk goes to his sister’s apartment and finds a box with her wedding ring. At her funeral, everyone is devastated. Later, Monk talks with his brother. Bill lives in Arizona and has separated from his wife after he admitted his sexuality to her. His medical practice is in crisis because everybody knows about his sexuality, and he has great financial debt. After listening to Bill’s problems, Monk realizes that it is now Monk’s responsibility to support his mother and “to live up to the measure of [his] sister” (51).

Monk takes a leave of absence from the university to care for his mother; he thinks that she will soon die, too. At his mother’s house, he watches a talk show on TV on which Jenkins is discussing her book and her life. The show characterizes the book’s language and characters as “real” and “true to life” (53).

Monk discovers that Lisa had debts, too. One third of her practice belongs to him but other doctors are not interested in buying it. Monk needs money so he sends his CV to American University, asking for a job. The chair of the English Department informs him that they will need a lecturer for American literature in the fall.

Monk talks with Lorraine in the kitchen. She used to like him until she saw that he used profanity in his books. He apologizes to her if his books offend her and tells her “it’s art.” He asks if she has any family, and she replies that his family is her only family. Monk asks her if she has any savings and what she will do after his mother dies. Lorraine replies that she will take care of him. Later, Monk’s mother says she misses Lisa and asks Monk when she will come back.

Monk calls his agent and asks if he has any news on his novel. The agent asks him to write something like his older novel. That novel was a “realistic” story about a Black man who becomes a terrorist after his mother dies by suicide; Monk hates that novel.

He sits at his father’s desk, looking at Jenkins’s photograph in Time magazine. He feels agitated and furious. He puts a paper in his father’s typewriter and starts writing a new novel, thinking that he could never sign this new novel with his own name.