Section 2: p. 17-27 Summary and Analysis

The narrator flies across the ocean to reclaim his son's body. His friend, Bernhard, meets him and they go to Eric's apartment in Munich where they find four of Eric's friends. The things in the apartment speak of Eric, but they have no meaning without their owner. The narrator travels to Kufstein to claim Eric's body, but the undertaker advises him against seeing the mutilated corpse. The undertaker yields Eric's effects to the narrator; the unscathed boots and backpack scream mockery to the narrator when compared to his son's mutilated body. A reference to Job 14:1-2 states that though the flower withers, the effects remain. The narrator wonders why Eric climbed the mountain alone, but the author deep inside knows. Eric prefers solitude when his friends are unavailable. He is also lured by the physical and mental...