Chapter 32 Summary

Mary is with Willy. She's put the raspberries in a bowl and is washing up. Paula isn't coming up today to read the Aeneid. They talk a little bit about where Willy and Paula are in the book. They get on the topic of descending to the underworld and Mary asks whether Dachau taught him anything. He responds,

"But very few ordeals are redemptive and I doubt if the descent into hell teaches anything new. It can only hasten processes which are already in existence, and usually this just means that it degrades. You see, in hell one lacks the energy for any good change. This indeed is the meaning of hell" (pg. 295).

Mary laments that she can't share anything with Willy. She walks to the window and gazes out, seeing the sea, and Ducane and Paula talking on the beach. Willy asks...