★The brackets are used to separate the thoughts that pop up in their heads while writing the letter. Without the brackets, the readers might assume that the content in a letter is/should be connected. ★The first letter by Jennifer(J) mainly describes her emptiness & nothingness. The italics used in different paragraphs mainly summarize the entire context of the letter giving a title to the same at the end i.e. an epistolary labyrinth of absences.
★The second letter in the order (the first by Gabrielle(G)) simply reflects that he knows about the miscarriage of J & his head is occupied with that incident. This also hints that why J felt the nothingness in the first letter & upcoming letters.
★In the second letter by J, in the first paragraph, she simply questions the point of why she is even writing letters. She questions the point of communication through letters. The second & the third paragraph again represents her dull mood, which is evident by what she is observing around her for example gossamer threads or fog. The iteration of ‘Here is an envelope’ is to stress her frustration that she doesn’t want to write any further & she is enveloping the letter written.
★The fourth letter in the order is simply G’s thought at a particular moment or as G himself says a memory chain. This can also be thought of as an escape of G from his thoughts or the thoughts which mostly occupy him.
★In the third letter by J, she mainly talks about her fear of communicating or socializing with people. She explains her fear & what goes in her mind when she is conversing with someone beautifully & precisely. The braces represent that it is one coherent thought she wants to convey. ★The sixth letter in the order is where G envisions the scenario when J will bring the topic of marriage.
★The fourth letter by J is nothing but a picture of a sealed blank letter symbolizing her lack of words.
★In the eighth letter in the order, G writes about his trip to someplace. He goes on to describe what he felt at some particular moment of the trip for example at some night when his eyes didn’t settle on a human rather wandering on objects.
★Finally, in the fifth letter by J, she confronts & pens down her thoughts & feelings at the time when she got the news of her miscarriage. The letter combines what was her thought when the embryo was planted & her thoughts on the day when she got the shocking news.
★In the tenth letter in the order, G describes his conversation with a certain man about birthstone & his thoughts on it. With this letter, we also get certain insights about G’s mentality. We get to know G a little more, apparently his unusual dislikes.
★In the sixth letter by J, she talks about her thoughts & memories associated with her body & womanhood. She starts with her childhood, talks about her mother & incidents/conversations with her. Then her mind diverts to the question she asked her doctor when he used to examine her during her pregnancy. Eventually, her thoughts finally melt down to the pain of her miscarriage.
★In the twelfth letter in the order the readers get the title to the piece, G writes the title to the conversation they have been doing. The title basically means that they are meeting each other at a distance because they are exchanging letters with each other. The ‘must’ emphasizes the fact that even if they are meeting apart they should keep on meeting. There is also a reference to Emily Dickinson.
★In the last letter by J, she summarizes her pain of miscarriage & what she was trying to convey through the letters. She explains her inability at failing to gain the strength to face the world still. She later talks about her visit to certain places.
★The final letter in order by G vividly describes a part of his journey (at the border) to a place across the border. Maybe he is going to meet J for the epistolary experiment.
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