Joy states that the Great Lion (God) brought her and Lewis (as yet unnamed) together. She thinks back to how she and her younger brother snuck out at night to visit a pair of Barbary lions at the Bronx Zoo. Describing her father, Joy relates how he slapped her for receiving a B on her report card, and she connects his background as a Ukrainian immigrant with his unflagging standards for her. Recalling the nighttime zoo trips in more detail, she describes the journey there from her apartment and her connection to and sympathy for the caged lions.

Part 1 begins with a quotation from C. S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair, the sixth installment in the Chronicles of Narnia, describing how Eustace and Jill call on the lion Aslan as they escape their bullies.

The chapter begins with a quotation from Davidman’s “Sonnet I” about love and fire.

Joy considers her first marriage to Bill, remembering talking to him on the phone. Despondent, Bill expresses his despair as Joy urges him to come home. As the call disconnects, Joy fears he is with another woman or intoxicated. Racing through the house, she experiences despair, calling out to God.