Mouth covered by handkerchief, S is incapable of screaming for help. Without much notice, he is carried away from the tavern. When he opens his eyes again out in the cold rain, he sees a monkey in velveteen sheets dart across the street, followed by two cursing, brutish men. Run, monkey. Run, S thinks as he loses his consciousness. As S gradually awakes from the coma, he senses his body being yanked and tugged.

On the marginalia, Eric shares with Jen the feeling of betrayal by Prof. Moody and his retaliations. Unable to control his emotion, Eric yells at Moody during the English department’s holiday party. He also imitates VMS’ sarcastic use of “S. Opice-Tance” (“The monkey dances” in Czech) and graffitis the letters on the wall of Standefer, part of an act of vandalism that directly leads to his expulsion (see news report below). Eric tells Jen that it is “a terrible feeling to find out you’ve been dumb enough to trust the wrong person.”

The monkey reference is very important throughout the novel. The monkey alludes to the monkey VMS uses to accept the Bouchards Award, as previously mentioned by FXC. The monkey S encounters here is likely to be the one owned by the organ-grinder, who attaches his meager income on his monkey. S’s hope that the monkey escape from the chasing men indicates his sympathy towards the exploited and the oppressed, which plays a big role in his campaign against Vevoda. Meanwhile, the monkey’s agility also indirectly highlights the incapacitation of S.

The page also reflects on Jen’s growing interest in knowing Eric. The pure academic communication becomes a talk between teens, as Jen proposes for the first time to meet up with Eric., Jen thinks that the conversation on the margins “doesn’t feel real.” Jen’s proposal can be seen as the first sign of affection, which later builds up to their relationship. However, Eric declines her proposal by saying that he is tied up in work and things he cannot explain. While Jen resigns at Eric’s response and asks him to

“forget I brought it [the meetup] up,”

she later writes (in different color) to Eric,

“You’re really hard to read sometimes.”