Chapter 13 Summary

Cardinal Bem walks among the poor, drunk, and homeless people under the bridge, experiencing a vision of hell. He thinks about how things are better than they were before the communists, and wonders if they would be even better if the West would help them, although he knows the West will not. He sleeps with newspapers stuffed into his clothes.

Chapter 13 Analysis

Cardinal Bem has hit rock bottom. He has no money, no one to trust, and nowhere to go. His belief that things are better than they were and will get better, or at least not get worse as long as no one rocks the boat, seems strange and napve juxtaposed with the reality of his hellish surroundings. The reader should start to realize that perhaps Cardinal Bem may be a little overly optimistic in his attitude toward the government and that...