Anxious People: Chapter 51 Summary & Analysis

The narrator explains that the truth is seldom complicated. People just want it to be complicated so if they work it out ahead of time, they feel smart. This story is about a hostage drama, a bridge, idiots, and an apartment viewing. It’s also a love story.

When Zara sees the psychologist for the last time before the hostage drama, she arrives uncharacteristically early. She accuses Nadia of being vegan when she notices her lunch of kale. Nadia asks why Zara is so ready to throw money away to talk about Nadia, not Zara. Zara says she’ll explain herself next time—maybe. Turning away to count the windows in the building across the street, Zara asks why Nadia hasn’t suggested antidepressants. Nadia explains that antidepressants often smooth out highs and lows, and she thinks Zara needs to feel more feelings, not fewer, because she thinks Zara is lonely. Zara asks what will happen if she kills herself. Nadia says Zara won’t do that, since she said she’d come for her next appointment.

Nadia says she trusts Zara and believes that Zara is afraid of hurting people. She thinks Zara is more empathetic and moral than she lets on, which deeply offends Zara. Zara insults veganism again, and Nadia points out that she changes the subject whenever they get close to talking about feelings. Nadia asks if Zara mocks veganism and environmentalism because it’s the opposite of the finance industry. Zara snaps that she’s defending the economic system, which people have made too strong. She points out that these days, nobody pays off their mortgages. Banks offer financing rather than loans, and apartments turn into investments rather than homes. She thinks the divisions between rich and poor keep getting bigger and nobody, not even the rich, feel rich. All you can do is borrow money to buy an expensive version of what you already have.

Zara can barely breathe when Nadia asks if Zara feels guiltier about the people she’s lent too much money to or the ones she hasn’t lent to at all. Snorting, Zara returns to mocking veganism and acts like she’s ready to leave. Nadia asks if Zara can tell her one personal thing before she leaves, like if Zara has ever been in love. Zara says she plays death metal very loud when she gets home, because it’s “so loud that it makes your head silent.” Nadia writes Zara the name of a pair of good headphones so she can get the same effect elsewhere, and maybe then Zara can get out more and meet people. In the elevator, Zara thinks about the loans she’s granted and refused. Then she presses the emergency stop button.