The golden notebook retells the events of Anna’s affair with Saul, her slow descent into disintegration. She dreams of a tiger that she believes is Saul. In her sleep, she watches the events unfold at Mashopi “like a speeded-up film” (616). The Paul of her memory bleeds into the Paul Tanner of her novel-in-progress, and then the Paul Tanner of her novel turns into the figure of her former lover, Michael. She sees all of the events and stories recorded in her notebooks come to life, like films directed by her. She is startled awake by Saul coming into the flat. She tries to tell him that “we’re very bad for each other” (621). He observes that the affair would be coming to an end anyway when Janet comes back from school. Anna suggests that Saul would stay if Janet were a son.

They argue about politics, and Saul claims that his function is to goad people into action. Anna retorts that he is more like a cannibal, feeding off the energy of others. Echoing her character Paul Tanner, she compares herself to a Sisyphean boulder-pusher. Saul launches into a monologue, peppered with first-person proclamations and invective against women before he leaves again.