Going After Cacciato: Chapter 40 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins immediately after the events of Chapter 38. The narrator explains that Berlin and his fellow soldiers “would not have been captured” in Greece. Berlin and his fellow soldiers have fantasized about their freedom and their lives after the army, and being arrested, the narrator insists, simply isn’t a part of their fantasy. Thus, when the soldiers disembark, still carrying their guns, they walk directly past the police officers without being detected. The next day, they climb aboard the ship again and sail to Athens. There, the soldiers make the usual inquiries about Cacciato, searching taverns and other similar places. Again, they find no evidence of Cacciato’s presence. They also find no evidence of Stink, and it’s not clear what happened to him after he jumped off the ship. After a few days in Athens, the soldiers make their way to the Greek-Yugoslavian border. In Yugoslavia, they manage to hitch a ride with a girl who’s from California. The girl drives them across the country.

The girl who drives the soldiers across Yugoslavia tells them that she’s impressed by their courage—they’ve clearly seen evil and “walked away.” The girl explains that she’s a former student at San Diego State, and a strong opponent of the war in Vietnam—as are the soldiers, she assumes. She drives her passengers to a small village, stationed far from any major cities. The village, the girl explains, is made up entirely of people who are sympathetic to deserters. They’ll help Berlin and his friends get airplane tickets, jobs, passports, and anything else they need.

As the girl drives the soldiers past her village, Oscar abruptly raises his rifle and orders the girl to stop. She does, smiling the entire time, and tells Oscar that there’s no need for him to rape her—she’ll gladly have sex with him voluntarily. Oscar orders the girl to get out of the car, and she does, still smiling. Oscar takes the wheel, and he and the other soldiers drive her car away. As the girl recedes into the distance, Doc says, “sometimes I do feel a little guilt.”

Oscar drives the soldiers and Sarkin into Germany. They pass by the Danube. “It was easy,” the narrator maintains. Berlin is excited to reach Paris. He imagines clean, neat rooms and beautiful buildings. He considers that the war in Vietnam was probably fought in the interest of these precise things—culture and order. While he acknowledges that it’s possible that this intention was misinterpreted or botched somehow, the intention itself was a good one. Early in the morning, the soldiers reach a train station, and the train takes them into Luxembourg.