In the narrative, the
speaker reveals that he cares very deeply about Mangan's sister. She seems to be his first
experience with love, or with emotions that feel very much like love. He describes how he would
lie on the floor as he watched her front door, waiting for her to emerge so that he could grab
his books and run outside to follow her on the walk to school. He says that "her name was
like a summons to all [his] foolish blood." Even hearing her name, then, would make his
heart beat faster and his blood seem to pump harder within his veins. The narrator imagines that
he is like a hero that "bore [his] chalice safely through a throng of foes."
His heart is so full of her that he is untouched by other sounds and sights in the
city, and they mean nothing to him; they all come together in a "single sensation of
life." He would often cry while thinking of her and he would utter her name during his
prayers. Having only ever spoken a few words to her in his life, he had no idea how he could
ever express to her his "confused adoration" of her.
He feels like
a musical instrument, and all of her movements and speech seemed to play upon him. When he
thought of her, he murmured, "'O love! O love!'" over and over. After they finally
speak, he becomes obsessed with getting her a gift from thebazaar, and this is all he can think
of.
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