I saw an oxygen tank in the cluttered room-what had been Atkins's "study," as his son had explained, now converted for a deathwatch.
In the novel "In One Person" by John Irving, a powerful scene unfolds when the narrator observes an oxygen tank in a disarrayed room that used to serve as Atkins's study. This setting, now filled with reminders of mortality, has been transformed into a makeshift space for a deathwatch. The previous purpose of the room contrasts sharply with its current state, highlighting the themes of life, death, and change that permeate...