Part Three, Chapter VIII - XVII Summary

In Chapter VIII, Hanna Wendling, the wife of an advocate who is away at the war, is described. She is a woman of leisure who can sleep away the day. In Chapter IX, Huguenau meets Major Von Pasenow, the Town Commandant of Moselle. The Major is much older, and has been called out of retirement to serve in this capacity. Huguenau decides to cultivate the Major's friendship as a hedge against being discovered as a deserter. In Chapter X, Esch compares his current position as a newspaper editor with his previous successful profession, as a bookkeeper. The strict rigors of checks and balances, credits and debits, are unknown to his present occupation, and it frustrates him. Chapter XI begins the subplot of Marie of the Salvation Army. The unnamed narrator has been at...