Reading Through Bolden

After reading Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje, I've decided to do a close reading. Here's a quote taken from the book, in which Bolden, the main character, meets up again with Nora, his wife he had left for two years:

"They lay there without words. Moving all over her chest and arms and armpits and stomach as if placing mines on her with his mouth and then leaned up and looked at her body glistening with his own spit. Together closing up her skirt, slipping the buttons back into their holes so she was dressed again. Not going further because it was friendship that had to be guarded, that they both wanted. The diamond had to love the earth it passed along the way, every speck and angle of the other’s history, for the diamond had been the earth too.” (118)

Sentence one: "They" (more than one person), including Buddy, have some kind of an ineffable emotion going on inside them.

Sentence two: Through the actions he does and the way that he appreciates every part of her body implies that he likes her (or at least he's about to have a sexual relationship). But because Buddy leaned up and stares at what's happening ("looked at her body glistening with his own spit"), I can infer that he's rethinking his actions.

Sentence three: Buddy stops what he's doing. I can infer that he is at least thinking about his actions and has a sense of why he shouldn't do what he was about to do. His stopping also implies that Buddy now either has more respect or his interest in Nora (or woman in general) has decreased.

Sentence four: Buddy has to keep his friendship with Nora the way it is either because of some kind of a past experience or because of some kind of a constraint. "...that they both wanted" implies that Nora understands Buddy's situation and feelings. I can infer that Buddy realizes that it's not worth risking his relationship with Nora.

Sentence five: Even though Bolden has now changed a lot compared to his previous years, he realizes that he was still a part of Nora, who has not changed much. He bases his actions on the past and decides that he has to respect his wife.