BEg2 ch 23 the Dante connection

[Michael Bailey]

Not to push the Divine Comedy resonances too far - I’m sure this author is
familiar with it, obviously - but it’s from the 9th Circle that Dante and
Virgil head to Purgatory.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-ascent-of-the-mountain-of-purgatory-n03366

(Eric as Virgil is absent but maybe Avi substitutes)

Ernie and Elaine’s place at the opening of Chapter 23 is a kind of
Purgatory (Heaven would be her home with her marriage repaired?) where she
enacts penance by having to deal with her sister.