Part 1, Chapter II and III Summary

In Chapter II: I Am Concerned With Your Eternal Life, Kristina sews flannel shirts for Karl on her new sewing machine, slowing the wheel when Karl joins her. When he announces that he has decided to volunteer for the war, she calmly suggests he wait for conscription, but Karl would be ashamed to be forced to fight for his country and must go now. Kristina objects that the Fifth Commandment says not to kill and she does not want him to be a murderer because she is concerned with his eternal salvation. Karl is dumbfounded because he expected his wife to object to him leaving his family. He has received a call of duty from the President, but "from his wife the husband and father now received another reminder, another call. But it did not...