New York

“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.”

She explains the summer as queer and sultry. This means it’s odd, out of place, sexy, erotic, scandalous, hot, humid, and airless.
The Rosenbergs were the first people to be killed because of treason. They were a couple who were Communist spies. Esther describes hearing about the Rosenbergs as the first time she saw a cadaver. It was everywhere, and she couldn’t keep from thinking about it. It stuck with her. Even though she has no connection with the story, she has some sort of relationship with it.
The first thing in the entire book is about Esther’s uncertainty about her situation.
She talks about how she had no idea why she was in New York. Esther has won a contest and is now living in New York as an intern at a fashion magazine. She has all of her expenses paid, and she gets to get her hair and make-up done, and wear the nicest clothes. She goes to parties and is seen by people. Esther says, “I was supposed to be having the time of my life.” Instead, she worries about how she can’t enjoy all of these things. She feels left out, and out of place. Esther feels lonely and isolated, even around all the people at parties and the fellow girls who try to be her friend.