Structure

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Beginning

The story begins by introducing the American couple and by establishing the setting:

There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel. They did not know any of the people they passed on the stairs on their way to and from their room. Their room was on the second floor facing the sea. It also faced the public garden and the war monument. There were big palms and green benches in the public garden. (ll. 1-3)

The fact that the couple are the only two American at the hotel could also be seen as a foreshadowing element for their isolation from each other.

The exposition continues with a more detailed description of the surroundings, which helps establish the time setting: “Italians came from a long way off to look up at the war monument” (l. 7). The war monument and its visitors from distant places suggest that the action takes place after World War I.

The American wife, sitting at her room’s window, sees a cat trying to shelter itsel…