# XX: Of Divers Fleshly Riddles explained — The Cream of the Jest

> Chapter companion for The Cream of the Jest by James Branch Cabell.

## What happens

Kennaston begins to lose interest in his waking life and his own identity, noticing his wife's distrust and his own growing detachment from mundane concerns. He reflects on the fundamental loneliness of human existence, concluding that all communication is flawed and that true understanding between people is impossible—until the arrival of Ettarre changed everything.

## Themes in this chapter

### Dream vs. Reality

Kennaston's growing indifference to his waking life and identity contrasts with the vivid reality of his dream experiences.

### The Limitations of the Flesh

Kennaston meditates on the isolation imposed by the five senses and the physical brain, questioning the possibility of genuine communication.

## Character check-ins

### Felix Kennaston

Grows increasingly detached from his diurnal life and identity; reflects on the isolation of human consciousness.

### Mrs. Kennaston

Observes Kennaston with anxious distrust as he withdraws from everyday affairs.

### La Beale Ettarre

Referenced as the one who ended Kennaston's lifelong loneliness.

## Key lines

> A little by a little he was beginning to lose interest in that pudgy pasty man of forty-odd who was called Felix Kennaston, and to handle his affairs more slackly.

Gradually, Kennaston cared less about the middle-aged man he was in daily life and neglected his responsibilities.

_Shows Kennaston's growing detachment from his waking identity._

> All that happened to him, he considered, happened inside his skull. Nothing which happened in the big universe affected him in the least except as it roused certain forces lodged in his skull.

He believed that all his experiences were merely chemical reactions in his brain, and external events only mattered insofar as they triggered those reactions.

_Highlights Kennaston's solipsistic philosophy and the theme of the limitations of the flesh._

> Yes, a perpetual isolation, for all the fretful and vain strivings of humanity against such loneliness, was probably a perdurable law in all other men's lives, precisely as it had been in his own life until the coming of Ettarre.

Kennaston concluded that everyone is fundamentally alone, just as he had been, until Ettarre entered his life.

_Emphasizes the transformative role of Ettarre in Kennaston's inner life._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xx-of-divers-fleshly-riddles
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters