Part IX Summary

Part IX begins in the house on Mengstrasse with Thomas nervously talking to two doctors. His mother is ill and the doctors believe she has an infection of her left lung. The doctors attempt to reduce the infection to no avail, and over time it spreads to the other lung. Tony is very upset by these developments and even more upset that her brother has hired a catholic nun to tend to her mother. Frau Consul gets worse and worse until her lungs fill with fluid and she begins to suffocate in front of the family. She begs for a narcotic so that she can end her struggle and join her husband in death, but the doctors refuse to help her die. After a long and painful struggle, she finally succumbs to death.

After their mother's death, it is up to...