Captain Corelli’s Mandolin: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

On his way to the kapheneia, Dr. Iannis runs into Lemoni again. She's prodding a dog with a stick and the dog can't seem to decide if it's a game. Dr. Iannis tiredly tells Lemoni to leave the dog alone and remembers extracting glass from the dog's paw a while ago. He thinks that his obsession with healing may be strange, but reasons it's at least constructive unlike the obsessions of Hitler or Mussolini. Lemoni declares that the pine marten should be called Psipsina, and won't listen that that's an inappropriate name--she insists she's not a lemon, and yet her name is Lemoni. Dr. Iannis says that when Lemoni was born, he wasn't sure whether she was a lemon or a baby. He leaves her looking very confused.

At the kapheneia, Dr. Iannis sits next to Kokolios. They discuss the superiority of Cephalonia's water and Kokolios announces that when Lenin is in charge, they'll have the best life as well. Stamatis, who became suddenly aware of Kokolios's communism after the pea was extracted, curses. They exchange insults until Dr. Iannis interrupts and says that they all hold different political leanings, and yet they must care about people more than they care about the ideas. He even defends Father Arsenios when Kokolios deems him a parasite. He briefly pokes fun at Kokolios's communism before Kokolios asks about the war.

Dr. Iannis gives a brief rundown of what the countries involved in the war are up to and then suggests they turn on the radio. They hear about an Albanian revolt against the Italian occupation but they're interrupted by Pelagia at the door. She asks her father to come home; Mandras fell out of the olive tree and has shards of pottery in his backside. Dr. Iannis grudgingly returns home, forbids Pelagia from watching the operation, and wonders how Pelagia could've possibly fallen for someone like Mandras.

Dr. Iannis tells Mandras he's an idiot and asks if he's going to ask Pelagia to marry him. He insists that he's not providing a dowry, and Mandras says he's not ready to ask anyway--the war is coming and he doesn't want to leave a widow. Six hours later, after napping, chasing the goat, and feeding Psipsina, Dr. Iannis returns to the kapheneia. He knows something is wrong as soon as he enters; both Stamatis and Kokolios are crying and Father Arsenios is preaching outside. Kokolios explains that the Italians just sank the Elli and torpedoed a wharf, just as pilgrims were observing the icons at the local church. Everyone agrees when Dr. Iannis suggests they all go to the church.