Chapter 2 Summary

In Chapter 2, we learn that the narrator's name is Elisha. He's eighteen years old, making it only six years since his encounter with the beggar, but he has experienced much tragedy during that time. The story begins with how Elisha comes to France from Buchenwald. He is freed by Americans but refuses their offer to return him to his native town. With his parents dead and the town under Russian occupation, he does not want to revisit his childhood.

Instead, he opts to go to France, which grants him an asylum. After spending a month in a youth camp in Normandy, he returns to Paris, where he is set up in a furnished room and immerses himself in French lessons. His goal is to enroll in a philosophy course at the Sorbonne. In an atmosphere of detachment, he wants to explore questions such...