74 pages • 2 hours read
Pam Muñoz RyanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Prologue
Part 1, Chapters 1-5
Part 1, Chapters 6-10
Part 1, Chapters 11-16
Part 1, Chapters 17-21
Part 1, Chapters 22-26
Part 2, Chapters 1-5
Part 2, Chapters 6-11
Part 2, Chapters 12-17
Part 2, Chapters 18-24
Part 3, Chapters 1-5
Part 3, Chapters 6-10
Part 3, Chapters 11-16
Part 3, Chapters 17-21
Part 4, Chapter 1-Epilogue
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Friedrich Schmidt prepares to head to the harmonica factory where he works. It is his father Martin’s first day of retirement, so he will no longer protect Friedrich from the people who stare at the large birthmark on Friedrich’s face. His father, a cellist, is looking forward to starting a chamber music ensemble, and hopes his daughter Elisabeth will play piano when she returns from nursing school. Father and son speculate on whether or not Elisabeth miss them, and they agree that she must.
Friedrich heads to the harmonica factory. On his walk, he thinks about the Nazi demand for a “pure German race” and experiences he’s had because of his birthmark. On his walk, he passes the music conservatory that he hopes to attend in the fall, and wonders, which would be worse: “to be accepted or to be refused” (47). He runs into his Uncle Gunter, who escorts him to work.
This chapter relays how Friedrich, at twelve, came to apprentice at a harmonica factory rather than attend school. At eight, he walked to school conducting; his sister Elisabeth warned him not to draw additional attention to himself, and risk nicknames such as “Monster Boy” (50).
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