Bethe Summary and Analysis

In the preface, the author describes what pentimento is. When an oil painting ages, the top layer can become transparent revealing another painting beneath. This "painting over" process is called pentimento which is done when an artist changes his mind. Lillian Hellman wrote this book in hopes of looking back to see what once was there.

In Bethe, Bethe lived in a modest home on Prytania Street. She slept in the dining room on a cot. She was the first one up to make coffee and German breakfast rolls that no one liked. To save carfare, she walked to her job on Canal Street where she carried shoe boxes back and forth all day for a German merchant who ran a store that catered to sailors. Several months after she arrived, she visited with various members of the Bowman clan. Finally...