Summary

Part 6 is titled “A Season of Ruin” and takes place from December 1941 – June 1944. Chapter 59 opens with the attack on Pearl Harbor and how Roosevelt had publicly stated that the United States would only enter the war if attacked. Ernest and Martha argue over having a child. Martha thinks about the ways her life would change with a child and how she would not be able to travel the world in the same way Ernest would. Martha notices Ernest struggling with not writing and that he is putting on weight and drinking more.

In chapter 60, Ernest comes home with cats, and continues to not write. Ernest agrees to patrol off the coast of Cuba for the Naval Intelligence for Central America. It is Ernest’s contribution to the war effort. Martha thinks about how she wants to go to Europe, but “the American...