The paradox of love
The main paradox in the entire text is love which the reader finds hard to comprehend. When the narrator discovers that Adriaan is married, she still stays put, hoping that he will get divorced from his first wife. The reader realizes that the narrator has never been married, and she is excited even to live with a married man.
The silence of Adriaan
Adriaan asks the narrator to move with him in his apartment, and she thinks that he is a single man looking for serious companionship. Ironically, the narrator later realizes that Adriaan is a married man. However, Adriaan does not refuse the claims because he accepts that he is married, but he is not interested in his wife. When Adriaan seeks divorce, he remains silent, and the narrator remains to guess what could have happened.
Romance in the courtrooms
The reader finds it satirical that romance can happen in the courtrooms where serious matters concerning justice are discussed. The narrator argues that she found it necessary to engage in intimacy analogues to ensure fairness. In the hearing and interpretations process, the former president falls in love with the narrator and sends his defence team to tell her that he is interested in her.
The irony of the convicted presidents
The role of heads of state is to prevent and safeguard the constitution and ensure that human rights are preserved at all times. Sardonically, the novel ‘Intimacies’ show otherwise because the heads of state do the contrary. Presidents such as Taylor and Gbagbo are in The Hague to answer charges against humanity. Consequently, these presidents did not safeguard the constitutions they vowed to protect, and they must face justice.
