Sexuality, rage and insightful observations mix in with his daily routines. For a time, he works as a newspaper proofreader, a position that he finds comfortable, because he does not need to be concerned with the stories themselves. Constantly looking for someone to care for him or some means of survival, Henry takes up with an arrangement in a suburb of Paris but feels too hemmed in and returns to the city. At another time he leaves Paris to teach English in Dijon, a very distressful period for Henry. He feels as if he is in a penitentiary, and at his first opportunity, he returns again to Paris.