Captain Corelli’s Mandolin: Chapter 72 Summary & Analysis

At age 14 in October of 1993, Iannis goes up to the old house to play his mandolin in private. He's startled when an old man with a strange accent interrupts his practice to tell him he's doing something wrong. The man repositions Iannis's fingers and says that he's been a professional mandolinist for most of his life. Iannis asks the man to play and offers him the mandolin. Iannis listens in disbelief as the man plays but suddenly, the man stops short and says that the mandolin is his Antonia. Corelli realizes that Iannis's grandmother is Pelagia.

Corelli asks if the mandolin had missing strings and tells Iannis that the strings are in his ribs. He says too that the buried skeleton is Carlo, who saved him from a firing squad. Iannis is deeply impressed. Corelli asks after Pelagia and Iannis's grandfather, which Iannis finds confusing. He explains he has no grandfather. As Corelli and Iannis head down the hill together, Iannis falters and asks if Corelli is the ghost.