In his new job as instructor, Smith finds the artwork of two of his students, Bambi Kramer and R. Howard Ridgefield (each described with great humor by Salinger) demoralizing to the point of despondency. His third student, a devout nun from the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, offers hope. She submits a painting depicting the burial of Christ. Astonished by her talent, Smith writes a gushing and intrusive letter to her that is as inept as the crude artistic offerings of his other pupils.