The chap­ter “Incon­sis­ten­cies” nar­rates an insight­ful con­ver­sa­tion between the pro­tag­o­nist, who finds him­self engag­ing with a young Turk dur­ing a sum­mer evening ball. As the evening unfolds, the cul­tur­al con­trasts between East­ern and West­ern social eti­quettes and norms become the focal point of their exchange.

The set­ting begins with the pro­tag­o­nist escap­ing the mun­dane chat­ter of oth­er men about golf and rac­ing by retreat­ing to a qui­et cor­ner of the piaz­za to enjoy his cig­ar. The tran­quil­i­ty is soon inter­rupt­ed by the pres­ence of a solemn young Turk, puz­zled by the late com­mence­ment of the ball com­pared to the time men­tioned in the invi­ta­tion. The pro­tag­o­nist explains the casu­al approach of Amer­i­can social gath­er­ings, where the tim­ing on the invi­ta­tion is often dis­re­gard­ed.

The con­ver­sa­tion takes a deep­er dive into the social fab­ric of Amer­i­can soci­ety as they observe the guests tran­si­tion­ing from casu­al group­ings to engag­ing in dances. The Turk, with his con­ser­v­a­tive back­ground, is per­plexed by the appar­ent con­tra­dic­tions in Amer­i­can social norms—where on one hand, strict soci­etal codes seem to gov­ern inter­ac­tions, while on the oth­er, inti­mate forms of danc­ing are open­ly accept­ed.

The pro­tag­o­nist elab­o­rates on Amer­i­can social con­ven­tions, dis­tin­guish­ing them from Euro­pean stan­dards. He high­lights the para­dox of Amer­i­can soci­etal norms where the exter­nal dis­play of wealth and suc­cess over­rides the con­ven­tion­al pre­req­ui­sites of social accep­tance. He points out the incon­sis­ten­cy in judg­ing women based on their attire, reveal­ing the prej­u­dice towards mod­esty based on con­text and set­ting.

An inter­est­ing aspect of their dis­cus­sion revolves around the Amer­i­can con­cept of flir­ta­tion, and the role of women in soci­ety which, accord­ing to the pro­tag­o­nist, often leaves hus­bands in a neglect­ed state. They delve into the pecu­liar prac­tice of women dress­ing provoca­tive­ly for pub­lic events like the opera, which seems to con­tra­dict their oth­er­wise con­ser­v­a­tive soci­etal val­ues regard­ing mod­esty.

The chap­ter clos­es on a note of con­fu­sion and won­der from the Turk, as he tries to rec­on­cile the con­flict­ing norms of mod­esty and social eti­quette between day­light and evening events, between pri­vate and pub­lic set­tings. The pro­tag­o­nist strug­gles to offer suf­fi­cient expla­na­tions that bridge the cul­tur­al gap, leav­ing the read­er to pon­der the com­plex­i­ties and con­tra­dic­tions with­in Amer­i­can soci­etal norms.

Through this dia­logue-dri­ven nar­ra­tive, the chap­ter pro­vides a reflec­tive cri­tique of the soci­etal con­structs and the often arbi­trary nature of social accept­abil­i­ty, chal­leng­ing the read­er to ques­tion what con­sti­tutes pro­pri­ety and the influ­ence of cul­tur­al con­text on our per­cep­tion of it.