Hannah feels as if she is in a “dream or an elaborate game” caused by the wine she sipped at the Seder meal. The actual “place” is a field and then a small cottage. Hannah has just been participating (and complaining) about all of the customs of the Passover supper. The most recent one she was asked to perform was opening the door for the prophet Elijah. She opens the door of the Bronx apartment and, instead of seeing the hall, sees a strange sight: “a greening field and a lowering sky.” A strange figure comes closer carrying a hoe. He sings the following song:
Who asked you to be buried alive? / ... no one forced you / ... you took this madness on yourself.
At this point, Hannah is quite frightened. She whirls around hoping to see the apartment, but instead she is standing in a cottage with one plain table and a black stove. At this point, a woman asks her if Shmuel is approaching. It takes Hannah a moment to understand the Yiddish, but she finally notices a man coming to the door. It is at this point that she decides what “kind of place” she is in for the moment: a daydream or game.
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