Listen, I said, I don't think you understand. I don't want to be presumptuous, but really how could you understand what another person's suicide means? My friend asked the waitress for more coffee. I said that actually, now, I'd begun to measure a person's character and integrity by their ability to kill themselves.
In this excerpt, the narrator expresses a sense of frustration and disbelief about others' understanding of suicide. They emphasize that truly grasping what it means to take one’s own life is difficult for anyone who hasn’t experienced it firsthand. The speaker suggests that judging a person’s character and integrity might involve their capacity to face despair and make such a final decision.
"Listen, I said, I don't think you understand. I don't want to be presumptuous, but really how could you understand what another person's suicide means?" reflects the narrator's attempt to convey the depth of their insight into suicide. The morning scene with the waitress and the comment about measuring character through the ability to kill oneself highlights the complex and often misunderstood nature of mental anguish and moral judgment.
