The Leftovers

Two weeks after spending a week in Florida with Nora, Kevin attends a town council meeting. He helps mediate disputes between town members and officials. While waiting for Kevin to come over after the meeting, Nora reflects on her relationships with men and her belief in herself as a girlfriend that men can take pride in. This idea became a running joke with her husband, Doug. After starting to date Kevin, however, Nora struggles to “remember how to play a role that had once been second nature” (230). The two chat and then watch an episode of SpongeBob as part of Nora’s daily ritual. In Florida, Nora made it clear that talking about personal details, especially families, is unwelcome.

Although “Nora didn’t want to be like this, distant and shut down” (237), she still finds herself unable to fulfill her own expectations of what a good girlfriend should be. Though they had sex and spent nights together in Florida, Nora asks Kevin to leave after the SpongeBob episode. She begins to see that it was too soon to begin a new relationship and that she has not fully addressed her grief over the loss of her family.