S attempts to document what he saw and experienced in the city of B– with a fishhook, but encounters difficulties since the fishhook is curved. He eventually gives up and turns to examine the papers and photographs taken from the bag. Each photo depicts a different person, and most of the images are blurry.

Jen thinks that S’s difficulty in writing may well reflects that of Straka. Eric agrees. He comments: “Maybe something about the difference b/w what you intend + what results.” The theme “intent vs. result”, reflected by S’s writing on the wood, runs throughout the novel (for example, while S intends to kill Vevoda, he decides not to do so in the end,).