Summary

The novel’s protagonist is sixteen-year-old Karl Rossmann. He is from Prague, which at the time this novel was written, was part of Germany. In Chapter 1, “The Stoker,” Karl arrives on a passenger ship that is pulling into the harbor of New York City. In Prague, Karl was seduced by a servant woman. After the woman became pregnant by Karl, Karl’s parents decided to send him to live with his uncle in New York. As Karl prepares to leave the ship, he realizes that he has forgotten his trunk, which he temporarily left with a passenger named Franz Butterbaum. Karl becomes lost on the ship, and he finds himself in the quarters of a middle-aged German man who works as an engine stoker on the ship. Karl finds the man pitiable and strange, but soon he feels sympathetic towards the stoker, who complains...