Chapter 24 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 24

April sees much sun and rain. As Carlo is walking across town, he meets a woman who gives him a telegram. A close relative has died and he is to be taken to the funeral. He is brought to Matera and then boards a train. He stays only a few days in Turin. He calls his visit melancholy and notes that all his friends and family seemed very far away. He felt "foreign to their interests" and found it hard to relate to them. On the way back to Gagliano, accompanied by two guards, Carlo finds himself considering the political and economic problems of Southern Italy. At the funeral, he was asked about these matters in detail. Everyone had a solution and it involved some version of State power.

Carlo believes that all his former friends and family are State...