Summary

In Chapter 8, “An Evening Alone,” Knud spends the evening alone in his room thinking. His parents buy him all the art supplies he wants, but he cannot paint because he has too much on his mind. He considers what would happen if Germany won the war, and wishes that he had someone with whom he could discuss his thoughts. Despite their close affiliation, Jens and Knud were more like competitors than confidants. The brothers even fight over girls. He could not talk with Borge because the boy was too young. Instead, he wished he could talk to Grethe, a girl he liked in school. While he did not know Grethe well personally, he fantasized about her regularly; he particularly liked to enact “heroic fantasies” during which he can save her from a “hail of bullets” (73). Despite his adult military actions, he had...