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Chapter 2: Sally Bowles
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Goodbye to Berlin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship
Storytelling
Antisemitism in Germany
Money as Security
Decadence
Summary
Analysis
Christopher takes his trip to Ruegen Island, an island off the coast of Germany. He describes the surroundings of the boarding house where he stays. Much like his introduction to Berlin, he observes the activity of the village from his boarding house. The house is in a wooded area a short walk from the Baltic sea. Aside from Christopher, there are two others staying in the boarding house: Peter Wilkinson, a nervous Englishman about Christopher’s age, and Otto Nowak, a teenaged, working-class German boy from Berlin.
Christopher’s time on Ruegen Island shows him immersing himself in another side of German culture after immersing himself in the chaos of Berlin’s nightlife scene. This new environment is presumably more conducive to his writing than the chaos and decadence of Berlin. His introduction of Otto and Peter foreshadows the fact that, as Sally had in the previous chapter, they will inspire his work.
Themes
One night, Peter and Christopher go out, and Peter tells Christopher his life story. The youngest in an aristocratic family of four, Peter has no contact with most of his family and is the least successful out of all of his siblings. He struggled socially and in his home life, and then he struggled to build a life at university. He then went to Paris to study music, only for his professor to tell him he has no talent. After a particular nervous attack while visiting his family in London, Peter began to see an array of psychiatrists all around Europe. While traveling, he met Otto.
Like Christopher, Peter is an Englishman who has chosen to continue his life abroad. His past struggle to find his place in his community has led him to seek happiness elsewhere, much like many other characters in the novel. The novel seems to portray Peter’s desire to pathologize his difference by seeing psychiatrists as an excuse to escape the world he does not fit in.
Themes
Peter, Otto, and Christopher spend a lot of time together, with Peter and Otto having a transactional relationship. Peter buys Otto gifts and pays him daily, and Otto in return spends time with Peter and talks to him about his problems as a replacement for a psychiatrist. One night, Otto decides to go dancing. Peter is upset, believing that Otto will leave him. Christopher tells him not to be so possessive.
Christopher’s friendship with Peter and Otto somewhat replaces Christopher’s friendship with Sally: he spends all his time with them, and they also serve as his muses. Peter and Otto’s relationship, whether it is truly physical or not, is a queer relationship that stands outside of Germany’s heterosexual paradigm, and especially outside of the rise of Nazism.
Themes
By the time summer comes around, the village becomes more crowded. Christopher describes the crowded beach, on which families fly the flags of their German cities and political affiliation. He notes a child marching with a Nazi flag and singing a nationalist song. A doctor that Otto has befriended urges Otto, Christopher, and Peter to spend more time at the more crowded beach rather than their quiet portion. The doctor expresses his gratitude that there are no Jews on the beach. The doctor often speaks to the group about his appreciation for Hitler. Though Otto wants to go to the crowded beach, Peter and Christopher prefer to stay on the quiet one.
As the village becomes more crowded, the beach shows a microcosm of German society at the time. The deep factionalism is clear from the many flags on the beach. The doctor that the group befriends acts as a representative for the rising Nazism in Germany and presents a contrast to Peter and Otto’s unconventional relationship. Otto’s desire to spend time on the crowded beach shows his drive to be a part of German society, unlike Peter or Christopher.
Themes
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One day, as Christopher, Peter, and Otto prepare to go to the beach, Peter and Otto get into a physical fight. Christopher leaves, feelings frustrated with the two of them. He reflects on the toxicity of their relationship. One of the most destructive factors, he identifies, is how bored each is of the other, for Peter and Otto have nothing in common. On the way back from the boardinghouse, Christopher runs into the doctor. The doctor says that Otto has a “criminal head” and that people like him should be put into labor camps to learn discipline.
That Peter and Otto continue their relationship in despite its obvious toxicity highlights each of their needs: it gives Peter the type of queer connection and love that he cannot get in mainstream society, and it gives Otto, economic security. The doctor’s comment that Otto should be put into a labor camp highlights the violent conformity that fascism requires.
Themes
Peter and Otto continue to fight frequently. Christopher does not mind much, as he is preoccupied with his novel and often goes on long walks alone to reflect on it. Peter resents Christopher’s chosen solitude. When the three of them spend time together, Otto often tries to rile Peter up. Nightly, Otto goes dancing, and Peter and Christopher go out together. When they return home, Peter runs up the stairs to see if Otto is home yet. He rarely is. Otto has begun to see a girl from town, much to Peter’s anger.
Just as Christopher is not distracted from his purpose by a romantic relationship, he is not distracted by the chaos within Peter and Otto’s relationship. By contrast, Peter is completely consumed with his relationship with Otto, who does not care about Peter nearly as much as Peter cares about him.
Themes
One night, Otto promises Peter that he will be home by a quarter to one. He is late, and Peter hits him out of anger. Otto shouts that he will return to Berlin the next day. However, the next morning, they have both calmed down and Otto persuades Peter to send Otto’s mother some money and buy him a new suit. In exchange, Otto agrees to stop seeing his girlfriend. He breaks up with her cruelly, humiliating her by making mocking faces at her rather than saying goodbye. When Peter criticizes him for this behavior, Otto says that girls are always pestering him to dance, and it’s their fault that Otto is always late to be home.
Otto’s cruel behavior toward his girlfriend in order to maintain his relationship with Peter shows how Otto’s need for money overshadows his true desire for connections with women. Furthermore, Otto shirks responsibility for his actions toward Peter, choosing instead to change the narrative about himself and his actions in order to keep Peter’s favor.
Themes
Despite Otto’s resolution to change, he still spends his days flirting on the beach and his nights out dancing. Christopher and Peter continue to go out together at night. One particular night, they have an encounter with some Nazi boys, who claim that Hitler does not want war. The next day, Peter tells Christopher that he wants to leave Otto, as the only thing left between them is his money. However, when they get back to the boarding house, they find an apologetic note from Otto: he has left for Berlin. With him, he took some of Peter’s clothes and some money. Christopher reflects that the act of leaving is the first act of Otto’s that he respects.
Otto is unwilling to give up his decadent nights out dancing, not unlike many of the characters that Christopher encounters during his time in Berlin. Though Peter claims that he wants to leave Otto, Otto leaves Peter before Peter has the chance. This further highlights the complex power dynamics of their relationship: though Peter has the money that Otto requires, Otto keeps his power in the relationship one last time by leaving Peter first.
Themes
The same day that Otto leaves, Peter packs up to return to London. Peter and Christopher joke about him going to find another analyst. The two men bid each other goodbye with seemingly no intention of keeping in touch. Later, Christopher finds a note in one of his books from Otto: Otto wrote that he would like to see Christopher back in Berlin. Soon after, Christopher decides to go back to Berlin too.
Unlike Christopher’s final urge to Sally to send him a postcard, his farewell with Peter confirms the fact that he and Peter were only connected by circumstances and not by real emotional connections.
Themes
