Goodbye To Berlin

Isherwood visits Frau Nowak, Otto’s mother, at their apartment in Berlin. Isherwood is looking for a cheaper room to rent in the neighborhood. As Otto and Isherwood are leaving the apartment to find Isherwood a new room, Frau Nowak calls Otto back to speak with him. Otto tells Isherwood that Frau Nowak wants to offer him a room with them. Frau Nowak is worried that “it won’t be what [Isherwood] is accustomed to” (105). Isherwood, however, decides to stay with the Nowaks.

Frau Nowak constantly complains about how lazy Otto and Grete, her 12-year-old daughter, are. Frau Nowak considers her other son, Lothar, to be a “model son” (107). Otto playfully mocks his mother and sister during his mother’s protests. When Herr Nowak comes home, Frau Nowak scolds him for being drunk. Lothar is with Herr Nowak. Lothar is 20 years old and is going to night school to earn a degree in engineering. According to Frau Nowak, Lothar is involved with Nazi politics. Herr Nowak explains that his political position is that every man is equal: “a Frenchman’s as good as an Englishman; an Englishman’s as good as a German” (110). 

Otto shows Isherwood a hidden tin containing letters and photographs of admirers. While Otto is showing him these things, Isherwood asks if Otto ever hears from Peter. Otto, in response, asks Isherwood to never mention Peter again, saying, “Peter hurt me very much. I thought he was my friend. And then, suddenly, he left me—all alone” (116).

Isherwood increasingly finds it difficult to put up with the living conditions at the Nowaks’. He spends most of his evenings drinking at a bar at the end of the street called the Alexander Casino.

Frau Nowak’s health is failing. She goes to see multiple doctors and each has a different opinion on what she should do: one recommends going to a sanatorium, one insists she’s too far gone to go to one, and another tells her there’s nothing serious the matter and she merely needs a fortnight in the Alps. Eventually, it’s determined that Frau Nowak is to be sent to the sanatorium shortly before Christmas. She worries about how the rest of her family will take care of themselves while she is gone.

Isherwood decides to leave the Nowaks. The afternoon before his departure, Frau Nowak returns home to cook a farewell dinner only to find that Otto has let the stove go out. She and Otto have a big fight and Otto angrily slams the door to the inner bedroom behind him. When Isherwood goes into the bedroom a little later to pack his suitcases, he finds Otto sitting on the bed with his wrist cut by a razor blade. The cut isn’t very serious. Isherwood bandages Otto’s wrist with a handkerchief and scolds Otto for scaring him.

A few days after Christmas, Isherwood visits the Nowaks again. Isherwood now has a nice room in the West End and an “excellent new job” (129). He finds only Herr Nowak and Grete at the apartment, having a party. The room is very untidy and the electricity has been cut off due to the bill going unpaid. Grete and Herr Nowak seem happy, regardless. Herr Nowak informs Isherwood that Otto and Lothar don’t come around the place much anymore.

Isherwood accompanies Otto to visit Frau Nowak at the sanatorium. Frau Nowak is excited to see Otto. Isherwood notes that Frau Nowak looks “years younger” (132). Frau Nowak introduces them to the three other women who live in the ward with her. One of the women, Erna, seems interested in Isherwood, while another woman, Erika, seems interested in Otto. That night while Frau Nowak tells stories of her childhood, Erna and Isherwood kiss on the bed in the darkness. Otto tells Isherwood he “felt [Erika] all over” (137). 

As Otto and Isherwood get on the bus to leave, Isherwood fears that the patients huddled around them might attack. They all seem to despair about the guests’ departure.