Chapter Five Summary

After their sexual encounter, Karl is smoking a cigarette while sitting in the floor at Mary's feet. Karl talks about his life in Austria. Karl's father, a police officer in a small town, had shot himself on the day the German troops marched into the country. Karl, an art history major, had planned to be a teacher. When the Austrians shouted their enthusiasm at Hitler's promises, Karl stood by. When the resistance was formed, Karl joined. The resistance movement is populated by youngsters who don't understand the danger they are facing and they are soon compromised, arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Karl manages to escape but wanders the Italian countryside without identification, passport or a way to make a living. Karl tells Mary that if he had money he'd buy a gun and shoot himself, "just like my father...