Captain Corelli’s Mandolin: Chapter 68 Summary & Analysis

Drosoula, Pelagia, and Antonia become even closer, but Pelagia wallows in guilt and remorse. She fixates on the fact that while Dr. Iannis tried to save them, she only thought about saving herself. She spends all of her time sitting at his grave with a candle. One day, Drosoula tells Antonia about Corelli and says that Dr. Iannis's death tipped her over the edge. They conspire to bring Pelagia to her senses.

At breakfast the next morning, Drosoula and Antonia brightly discuss that they had dreams about Dr. Iannis the night before. They tell a distraught Pelagia that he told both of them that he wants her to write his History of Cephalonia, and Antonia asks her if she's going to. Pelagia goes to the cemetery and realizes that she can keep his memory alive by finishing his history. She nearly becomes her father as she works; she neglects housework and chews on his pipe. As she writes, she discovers that she's almost more passionate than he was.

Pelagia writes letters to museums and libraries around the world, asking for information. Many of them write back and send her all sorts of information. Finally, she finishes the History in 1961, though nobody will publish it. Pelagia flips through and realizes that she discovered that she's Marxist, but believes that capitalism is most appropriate for dealing with problems. Drosoula won't listen, so Pelagia sits up late with teenage Antonia and they discuss politics and philosophy.

Pelagia torments Antonia and repeatedly tells her that when Antonia is old, she'll see that her mother is right. Antonia declares that she'll die young so she never has to get old. At seventeen, Antonia announces she's a communist and is getting married.