Part 3, Chapter 2 Summary

Chapter 2 summarizes a period of several years - the events will be further explored in greater detail throughout later chapters. Michael finished law school but does not want to practice law. Instead, he works as a law clerk. He meets a woman named Gertrud who is also a law school student. Michael does not tell Gertrud about Hanna, and when Gertrud becomes pregnant, the two marry in the late 1960s. Michael is never able to emotionally connect with Gertrud, however, and they divorce around 1974. Michael feels an enormous amount of guilt about the divorce, especially because his young daughter has a difficult time accepting it. Michael then takes a few other temporary sexual partners but is never able to emotionally connect with them.

Part 3, Chapter 2 Analysis

Chapter 2 is very similar in narrative construction to Part 2, Chapters 1 and 2 - the chapter spans...