The Dutch House

After their encounter on the train, Celeste becomes convinced that meeting Danny was fate, an improbable chain of coincidences—she was supposed to take an earlier train, they only bonded because of Danny’s chemistry book, and he was only studying because he was failing the class. But as an older Danny reflects, he attributes their meeting to a larger reason, the thing that caused him to fail chemistry in the first place: he had been preoccupied with buying a building in Harlem. One day, on the way to play basketball with some Columbia friends, he stumbled upon a foreclosed property and had the epiphany that buying and selling it could make him just like Cyril—the person he believed he was “meant to” become.

The Harlem building Danny wanted is sold at auction, but the idea sticks, and he begins searching the city for other properties. Meanwhile, his grades slip, prompting Dr. Able to make it his personal mission to get Danny into Columbia medical school. Though this isn’t the future Danny envisions for himself, he cooperates, committing to his studies because it’s what’s expected of him. Maeve, for her part, refuses to consider any path for her brother other than medical school—not because she cares about him becoming a doctor, but because she wants to drain the education fund.

Shortly after Danny begins medical school, Maeve calls him one evening with news: Andrea has contacted Lawyer Gooch, accusing the siblings of “bilking the trust” and insisting Danny transfer to a cheaper school. But Maeve is thrilled because Lawyer Gooch has already assured her Andrea has no legal case—Danny is entitled to the best education available. Though he earns good grades and remains unfazed by dissecting cadavers, he moves through medical school with detachment, treating it as a series of tasks to be completed rather than a personal calling.

Danny and Celeste dated off and on while he was an undergraduate, but med school makes it harder to maintain the relationship. They settle into a routine of spending three nights a week together, playing the role of a married couple—but this is the extent of Danny’s interest. When Celeste suggests they marry after her graduation and his first year of medical school, he panics. Marriage is neither something he wants nor something he feels ready for. When Celeste begins to cry, taking his hesitation as rejection, he realizes she views their future as a given—her “job” is to build a home with him and have his children.

Danny immediately visits Maeve to discuss his romantic life, and Maeve is put off by Celeste’s rush to get married. She points out that between medical school and his residency, Danny won’t have time for a relationship. Retrieving an “emergency” pack of cigarettes from her glove box, she smokes one, and though she claims to have quit, Danny can tell by the way she holds it that she hasn’t. By the end of their conversation, he decides to break things off with Celeste. In response, Celeste blames Maeve, saying Danny’s bond with his sister is not “natural.”