The loss of the desk was the most tragic of all the other losses to Nadia. Nadia knew she would part with the desk one day but she was not ready for it: “When that day came it sent my life, at last solitary and serene, reeling” (15). Before passing on the desk, Nadia had a foreboding feeling that there would be repercussions in her life; she hesitated to admit she had the desk: “For a moment I considered saying that I had given it away or thrown it out…But instead, without pausing to consider the repercussions, I told her that, yes, I had it” (17). The impending parting with the desk hindered her ability to continue writing; she began to judge her life’s work as meaningless: “When I sat down to work, not only was I unable to muster the necessary
