Evidence of the Affair

Reid establishes the novella’s epistolary form with Carrie’s first letter to David. The tone of her first letter, which informs David of Janet’s love letters, is polite, tense, and focused on the facts. Beginning, “Dear Mr. David Mayer” (6) and ending, “Sincerely,” the letter’s formality reflects that Carrie and David are strangers at this point. David’s reply is equally courteous and restrained, creating a tension between the letters’ tone and their profoundly personal content. These measured exchanges belie the turmoil and pain both characters are experiencing. The early chapters also provide insight into Carrie’s character traits through her writing. Carrie’s sensitivity and compassion come across through her delicacy of expression and her offer of support to David. Rather than conveying anger or the desire for revenge, her own distress makes her conscious of how the news will devastate David’s life, highlighting her empathetic nature.

Reid’s introduces the theme of The Destabilizing Impact of Infidelity through Carrie and David’s initial responses to their partners’ betrayal. Both characters experience shock and denial before accepting the truth. They then begin a process of reassessing their marriages, realizing that their former beliefs that they truly knew their spouses was a comfortable misconception. This shows how their partners’ infidelity also impacts their own self-perceptions. Further, their actions illustrate how dishonesty in intimate relationships perpetuates further duplicity as Carrie and David feign ignorance of the affair even as they secretly search through their partners’ possessions for more letters or other evidence.

The narrative presents David’s request for Janet’s letters alongside the inclusion of their content, but it withholds his immediate response. This heightens the emotional impact of this section, as the emphasis remains fixed on Janet's words while David’s anguish is left unvoiced. Janet’s descriptions of her passionate encounters with Ken sharpen her betrayal, though Reid focuses on her perspective rather than David’s reaction. At the same time, Reid does not demonize Janet, instead hinting at factors that may have led her into the affair. In one of her letters, Janet declares, “Four kids and a messy house and a thousand other things we women deal with had weighed me down. And now I feel lighter” (14). This portrays the affair as a brief escape from the heavy demands of her roles as a wife and mother. Furthermore, Janet’s second letter suggests she and Ken should end the affair, revealing pangs of conscience. While Ken’s responses are unavailable at this point in the narrative, Janet’s dramatic change of heart by the third letter implies that he persuaded her out of her misgivings.

The letters are a motif that run through the novella, and in this initial section, they function as the titular “evidence” of infidelity that Carrie and David would prefer to deny. While the discovery of these letters causes Carrie distress, she feels compelled to seek out more of them. Her observation that she is “almost happy when [she] find[s] one” (11) conveys how her urge to understand the nature of the affair overcomes her desire for self-preservation.

Marriage emerges as a symbol of permanence and security. Carrie and David’s reluctance to confront Ken and Janet stems from the fear that this would destroy their relationships permanently. Carrie’s assertion that, “Ken and I have a life that works, however imperfect” (12), underscores her perception of marriage as a stable state to which she wishes to return. Meanwhile, the motif of music draws attention to the fact that other people are mysterious and unknowable. Carrie’s observation that Ken only listens to Simon & Garfunkel and Mick Riva conveys his conservatism and lack of adventurousness; these traits contributed to Carrie’s inaccurate perception of him as a dependable husband. By contrast, Janet’s description of Ken dancing in his bathrobe to Simon & Garfunkel conveys a spontaneous side to his character that is unfamiliar to Carrie.