In this section of the reading, we can see how Dr. Jordan is slowly but surely coming undone at the seams. One of the earlier signs of this, is  his failing to return letters to his mother. This instance is described, “He crumples the page, drops it onto the floor. He will write a different letter” (288). While it is made clear that Dr. Jordan finds this process tedious and a bit exasperating, until this point, he had been maintaining the proper etiquette of swift responses regardless of his mother’s nagging. Later on, Dr. Jordan internally debates on whether or not to give in to his mother’s pleas for him to marry. He reflects, “It would be one way of deciding his own fate, or settling his own hash; or getting himself out of harm’s way. But he won’t do it; he’s not that lazy, or weary; not yet” (324). This illustrates Dr. Jordan’s growing confliction in how he is assessing his life, and the choices he is making. Dr. Jordan’s inner turmoil spirals drastically with the development of his affair with Mrs. Humphrey. He becomes so entrenched in this spiral that whilst on his hasty excursion to Toronto, he considers, “yet such is his perversity that he would rather be in London or Paris. There he would be anony­mous, and would have no responsibilities. No ties, no connections. He would be able to lose himself completely” (366). The overbearing stress on Dr. Jordan’s mental state has caused him to go from vague fantasies of reluctantly settling into marriage, to almost outright wishing he could “lose himself completely.”