Chapter 1 (sections i-v) Summary

The author opens by stating his misgivings about writing the story he is about to narrate. The reason for writing the story is so that his friend's biographers will have some useful information to work with. At first, he states he hasn't invented or embellished anything, before taking that back and stating that he changed names and wrote the conversations in his own words to the best of his recollection. The conversations he wasn't around to listen to, he wrote based on how he thought the conversation would have gone. The author then admits that part of his reservations about writing the novel is that he is writing about an American, and writing about people from another country is almost impossible because a foreigner can never fully understand the effects of growing up in another country.

The story starts...