Chapter 15-16 Summary

As Chapter 15 begins, the men in the ward are sleeping and some are talking. The new man and Dyomka are talking about their past lives, and the new man says it is better to live as a cripple than to die. Yefrem is nearby and says they should talk about what a man's life is for, and the new man says it is to work and be creative. Pavel likes this answer and begins to lecture Yefrem. Yefrem is not listening, he is thinking about his disease and about the birch bark fungus. He feels his spirit receding. Yefrem is told he is being discharged and he feels very remote. Oleg stops him when he comes back to the ward, and the two men are talking when the nurse delivers the paper. Oleg takes it and Pavel is furious because he...