Chapter 4: The Cellar

For me this was arguably one of the most powerful chapters in the novel. Aside from the introduction of the "cellar problem", we get a new perspective on Delphine and Cyprian's relationship. At first she is struggling between feelings of curiosity about the identity of Cyprian and betrayal because they had been lovers for awhile. However, because of this new development, their relationship is allowed to deepen and take on another dimension. They are comfortable enough with each other to still be intimate, but it doesn’t mean the same thing anymore. Now Delphine sees that it is just an extremely caring relationship and this allows her to appreciate him more as a person. This is further illustrated on pg. 50 when Delphine makes the observation that “They were something else. They were not-quite-but-more-than family.” Later on the reader sees that Cyprian has lingering questions about his own sexuality, but it is not so stressful to him now that he doesn’t have to keep it hidden, as he would have felt more strongly he had to do before.