In Germany, which had just survived the defeat in the First World War. The country is in an economic crisis. The streets of the cities were flooded with soldiers who returned from the front and were disappointed in life.
Robert, Otto and Gottfried
Like other peers, the three main characters of Remarque's novel also had to fight. Robert Lokamp, Otto Kester and Gottfried Lenz are inseparable. Remarque described these characters in great detail. "Three Comrades", reviews of which fell like hailstones immediately after the first publication of the book, describe the everyday life of an auto repair shop where best friends work. The first day of the story is Robert's birthday (he turns thirty). The main character (of the three friends, the author focuses on him the most) does not like such holidays because during them he is overcome by unpleasant memories of what he experienced.
Robert was just a boy when he was drafted to the front. There he had to endure many horrors, which he could not forget about, returning to a peaceful life. These are the wounds of friends, and the painful death of fellow soldiers from suffocation due to poison gas. Then came inflation, famine and other ordeals that became the norm for a destroyed country. Otto Koester tried to study at the university after the war, but dropped out, became a pilot, then a race car driver, and finally entered the automobile business. Lokamp and Lenz joined him as partners. Remarque especially tried to highlight this feature of their relationship. "Three Comrades", reviews of which often emphasize friendship as the main theme of the novel, time after time demonstrate the close and trusting relationship between Lokamp, Lenz and Kester.
Purchase of "Karl"
Another important theme of "Three Comrades" (as well as the rest of Remarque's work) is alcohol. In the first chapter, Lenz gives Robert 6 bottles of rare and old rum for his birthday. Long and unconventional descriptions of alcohol are one of the hallmarks of such a master of prose as Erich Maria Remarque. "Three Comrades", reviews of which have remained only positive for many years, tell a lot about the attempts of friends to earn money in difficult times. The inseparable trinity bought old junk at a local auction and set out to make a real racing car out of it. Under the pretext of working on this car, the morning celebration of Robert's birthday is interrupted.
Among themselves, friends call their pet "Karl". Putting it on wheels, in the evening they go to the suburbs, where they are going to fully celebrate their birthday. On the way, Kester, Lenz and Lokamp, fooling around, overtake the rest of the cars that they come across on the highway. Already in the restaurant they meet the driver and passenger of one of these cars. Together, the five of them organize a small festive feast. A passenger named Patricia Holman leaves Robert her number.
Lost generation
All reviews of the book "Three Comrades" note the bleakness of the environment in which the book takes place. For example, Lokamp lives in furnished rooms with neighbors of varying degrees of neglect. The young man Georg Blok is going to enter the institute, pores over books for days, eats up the last money earned at the mine, and suffers from health problems. Russian emigrant Count Orlov lives in constant fear that the Bolsheviks will get to him in Europe. The Hasse couple have long forgotten about harmony and constantly quarrel over their financial condition.
On the example of personal portraits of various people, Remarque demonstrates his skill as a writer. "Three Comrades" is a whole gallery of people who in one way or another suffered from the circumstances of a turbulent era. The lost generation - this is how the prose writer himself characterized them. Later, this term became popular among literary critics (it also includes creativity. Not far from Robert's boarding house is the International Cafe, where he worked as a pianist before the auto repair shop.
New meeting with Pat
A few days after his birthday, Robert meets Patricia in a cafe. Their date is rather unusual. Lokamp knows almost nothing about the girl he met by pure chance. Robert's uncertainty is compensated by the fact that he has long been familiar with the public and the staff of a public institution, which noticeably relieves his tension. According to the main character, he ruined the first date by drinking too much and saying too much. On the advice of Lenz, he sends Pat (as he calls Patricia for short) a bouquet of roses and apologizes for the oversight.
In a cafe, Remarque describes another front-line soldier - Valentin Gauser. This acquaintance of Robert received an inheritance from his relatives and is now diligently drinking it away. He doesn't want to strive for anything. Gauzer, who has been in the war, is already glad that he survived and can now drink whenever he pleases. Apathy and indifference are the moods that Remarque constantly attaches to his characters. "Three Comrades", reviews of critics and ordinary readers - all this echoes the author.
At the amusement park
There was a new meeting between Robert and Patricia. Now they decided to go for a drive. The girl has never driven a car, and Robert gives her practice on a quiet street. The couple then go to a bar where they meet Lenz. The trio (including Gottfried) decide to go to an amusement park. There, friends liked the pavilion with throwing rings on hooks. Lenz and Lokamp win all the prizes.
Front-line comrades immediately recall the days of respite at the front, when they had to kill their free time by throwing hats on hooks. Good luck accompanies them in two pavilions at once. They go to the third, but the owner explains that it is closing. In the amusement park, the "shooters" have a lot of fans who are curiously watching their face-to-face competition. Friends give most of the prizes to these onlookers. The evening is clearly a success. Patricia is part of Robert's circle of friends. So gradually, without sharp turns, the plot of the book "Three Comrades" develops. The film, based on the novel in 1938, generally repeats its plot.
"Karl" at the races
Friends complete the repair and modification of "Karl". Kester, as the trinity's chief driver, signs the car up for the races. All night before the competition, friends check the serviceability of equipment. Outside mechanics on the track lurid "Karl" causes unbridled laughter, but Kester insists on his own and prepares to start. Lokamp, Lenz and Patricia gathered in the stands. Remarque brings his key characters together again in one scene. "Three Comrades", reviews of which call detailed dialogues the basis of the book, really change the pace when another conversation or clash of interests unfolds in front of the reader. But on the pages occupied by Robert's inner thoughts, the narrative becomes viscous and torn.
Kester, despite the ridicule of opponents, manages to come to the finish line first. The victory is an occasion for a gala dinner at the bartender Alphonse (a mutual friend of Robert's company). At the end of the evening, Lokamp and Patricia quietly leave the feast. The girl stays overnight with Robert. The protagonist is surprised at what can cause some serious feelings in a woman, since his entire conscious life has passed under the sign of strong male friendship. All these contradictory thoughts and reasoning are scrupulously described by Erich Remarque. "Three Comrades", reviews and reviews of the book give the reader the impression that this book has become outstanding due to its deep psychologism, and not plot twists and turns.
Patricia's past
Until now, work in a car repair shop has, at the very least, fed friends, but due to another surge in inflation, technicians are losing their last orders. Purses are rapidly emptying, and the trinity decides to buy a taxi with their last savings and take turns turning the steering wheel through the streets of the city. In this area, newcomers have many competitors. During his first flight, Robert quarrels with another taxi driver and fights with him. Having cooled down, the men find a common language. Robert soon befriends fellow driver Gustav.
The main storyline of the book "Three Comrades" also continues. The reviews of ordinary readers and critics are unanimous: it is thanks to the relationship between Robert and Patricia that the novel is one of the most famous in the entire bibliography of the German writer. Lokamp gets into his girlfriend's apartment for the first time. The girl has no family left, and now she rents two rooms of an apartment that once belonged entirely to Pat's parents. The hostess treats the guest with rum and tells new facts about her life.
Patricia survived the ordeal, familiar to the then Germany. She starved for a long time and spent a year in the hospital. She had no money, no family, no job. Pat is going to get a job as a saleswoman in a record store. Robert, who wants to help the most, realizes that with his modest income, he is not able to support the girl. It begins to seem to him that Patricia needs a completely different man - wealthy and solid. So Remarque puts his heroes before trials and difficult decisions. "Three Comrades", reviews about them and everything that is written about the novel, unanimously testifies that this is not at all sugary fiction with simple exits and a happy ending.
Vacation at sea
Over the course of several chapters, Robert tries to sell a refurbished Cadillac to a dealer, Blumenthal. This businessman is distinguished by a sharp temper and intransigence in transactions. But Robert, who has found a key to a potential buyer, finally manages to earn decent money on the car. The amount is enough to recoup the investment of friends and give them a profit that they have not seen for a long time. After a successful transaction in the workshop, a holiday again.
With the money earned, Robert and Patricia go to sea. The start of the couple's vacation is one of the brightest moments in Three Comrades. Remarque, whose book reviews show him as a writer who whips up a sad mood, this time briefly let his heroes fully enjoy life.
Robert specifically chose a hotel in which he had already lived for one post-war year. A couple bathes in the sea and sunbathes on the beach. Lokamp recalls how, in 1917, his detachment indulged in the same small joys of life, at least for a short while getting rid of ammunition. On the second day, Patricia starts bleeding. Robert calls friends and they find her doctor. After a couple of weeks, the girl comes to her senses and returns home. However, the alarm bell has already rung. Erich Maria Remarque often resorted to such unpleasant plot twists. "Three Comrades" in this sense is no exception for his signature style of storytelling.
New challenges
The doctor acquaints Robert with Pat's medical history and insists on sending her to a sanatorium. An additional cause for concern is the spoiled wet weather, which negatively affects health. Patricia really goes to the hospital. Lokamp often visits her, and before leaving the girl gives a puppy - so that she would not be so bored and lonely.
There is almost no work in the workshop and taxis. Friends go to the mountains to run "Karl" on the eve of new races. An accident is happening right in front of their eyes. Men rescue the victims of the collision. The auto repair shop receives several new repair orders, which comes in very handy. The owner of one of the cars goes bankrupt. The vehicle is not insured, and friends cannot recoup the money invested in its repair. Because of this, they have to sell the workshop.
The appearance of radicals
Against the backdrop of an increasingly deteriorating economic situation in the city, it is becoming restless. There are constant demonstrations of the dissatisfied, sometimes skirmishes break out. One day Lenz goes to one of the rallies. Otto and Robert go looking for a friend.
In the chapter devoted to these events, Remarque is especially accurate and thoughtful. "Three Comrades", reviews of which from the first days of publication spoke of them as a deeply pacifist book, turned out to be more than ever right. Robert, who closely followed the people at the rallies, noticed that there were many fascist populists in the crowds. These speakers addressed petty officials, workers, accountants and other people hard hit by the economic peak. All of them became victims of the growing radical propaganda, which offered to get rid of the traitors and pests who were to blame for all the troubles.
Remarque's novel was published in 1936, and the plot seems to take place in the second half of the 1920s. While writing the book, the author was well aware of where the Nazis were leading his country. And although the Second World War had not yet begun, cardinal changes had already taken place in German society. Repressions began, people lived in a state of patriotic frenzy. On the pages of Three Comrades, Remarque showed how the revanchist movement that gave Germany Hitler was born and gained popularity. Soon the prose writer had to immigrate from the country, and his books were banned. The Three Comrades were burned at the stake along with other ideologically incorrect literature.
denouement
Otto and Robert had good reason to worry about Lenz. At the rally, he clashes with provocateurs. During a stormy argument, a young man unexpectedly runs out of the crowd and cold-bloodedly kills Lenz, who went through the whole war. Kester and Lokamp vow to avenge their friend. They almost overtake the criminal in a suburban catering, but he manages to escape. In the end, the provocateur was killed by Alphonse. Robert breaks the news to Otto and returns to his boarding house, where a telegram is waiting for him, in which Pat asks him to come to the sanatorium as soon as possible.
Lokamp goes to the hospital on the "Karl" with Kester. For the first time in a long time, patricians are allowed to go outside the medical facility. Robert and Otto listen to the doctor talk about the miraculous recovery of his patients. However, friends who have seen so much already understand the true meaning of the doctor's words, but do not even try to console each other. Soon Kester leaves for the city, and Robert remains in a sanatorium. In parting, Patricia asked me to say hello to Lenz. Friends did not have the courage to tell her about the death of the merry fellow Gottfried.
Some time later, Robert receives a parcel with money from Otto. He understands that Kester has sold "Karl" - his last asset. The protagonist comes to despair from a pile of terrible news. This gradual thickening of colors is the whole Remarque. "Three Comrades", a summary and reviews of which call the novel a logical link in the writer's creative chain, are right. The style of the prose writer is fully sustained in this book.
In March it starts to warm up. The first snowfalls occur in the mountains. The roar further intensifies the atmosphere in the sanatorium. Patricia is getting worse day by day. She dies at night holding Robert's hand. Together with her life, Remarque's novel ends.
History of writing
Remarque worked on the novel "Three Comrades" for almost four years. In 1933, the book "Pat" was published - the first step towards a grandiose novel about real male friendship in difficult times.
At that time in Germany, Remarque's books were already blacklisted, they were demonstratively burned in the squares. The writer was depressed by everything that was happening in Germany in particular and in the world in general. He lived in his villa in Switzerland, drank, got sick, met with German emigrants.
When work on the novel was already nearing completion, Remarque received an offer from the German government to return to his homeland. Erich Maria refuses to make peace with the Nazis and goes to Paris - to the congress of writers in exile.
The novel was published in 1936 in Denmark, in Danish, then published in the USA in English - in a magazine version. And only in 1938 the book "Three Comrades" published in German was published in Amsterdam. And soon the writer and his wife are deprived of German citizenship.
The novel was repeatedly filmed, and performances were staged on the stages of various theaters. On the stage of the theater "Sovremennik" the performance "Three Comrades" has been staged with constant success for more than 12 years.
Plot
"Three Comrades" is a book about true friendship, about male entertainment, about love and about the simple life of ordinary people in an ordinary small town in post-war Germany. Friends who survived during the war, and in peacetime stand up for each other like a mountain. And when one of them falls in love, the beloved girl becomes not a stumbling block, but another comrade.
When Pat's serious illness is discovered, all three comrades do their best to help her recover. One friend even decides to sell his lovingly built racing car. The depth of this act can hardly be overestimated - the car is so dear to friends that it has its own name and is perceived as an almost animated character.
The situation is unfavorable - things are getting worse, Pat is sick, the crisis in the country is getting worse. Everything becomes very bad when one of the friends tragically dies ... After that, nothing can be "as before". And what will happen to the guys then - is unknown. Big war ahead...
Reviews
The novel is loved by readers and critics. Probably because the realities of post-war Germany are somewhat receding into the background, hidden by the beauty of romanticized male friendship. I would like to call such friendship “real”, but how many people have met in life with friendship of such a high standard?
The novel was more praised than scolded, and rightfully so. Masterful dialogues, clarity of images and the attractiveness of pure feelings can leave few people indifferent.
Quotes
“Principles must sometimes be deviated from, otherwise they do not bring joy.”
"Life is too long for one love."
"As long as a person does not give up, he is stronger than his fate."
"The less a man cares about his state of mind, the more he is worth."
“You become a melancholic when you think about life, and a cynic when you see what most people make of it.”
“A true idealist strives for money. Money is freedom. And freedom is life.
"A man without love is like a dead man on vacation."
"Tact is an unwritten agreement not to notice other people's mistakes and not to correct them."
“A good ending only happens when everything was bad before it. A bad ending is much better."
“We live on illusions from the past, and we make debts at the expense of the future.”
“A person lies too little. He is always standing or sitting. This is harmful to normal biological well-being. Only when you lie down do you completely reconcile yourself with yourself.
"Three Comrades" ("Drei Kameraden") - a novel by E.M. Remark. Written during the years of fascism. The first publication (1937) appeared in the USA in English translation, and then already in 1938 in the German émigré publishing house Querido-Verlag (Amsterdam). In "Three Comrades" the artistic features of the writer's creative manner and his ideological position were finally determined.
Together with the novels All Quiet on the Western Front and The Return, Three Comrades form a kind of cycle about a contemporary of Remarque, a simple middle-class German of the 20th century, who alone is trying to establish himself in a hostile and deceitful post-war world. Remarque largely follows the aesthetics and poetics of E. Hemingway, whose influence on the German artist is noted by all critics. In "Three Comrades" Remarque feels a direct connection with the novel "Farewell to Arms!". One can find many parallels both in the plot and in the figurative system, as well as in the tragic ending and interpretation of the theme of love.
The heroes of the novel are Robert Lokamp (the story is being told on his behalf), Otto Coster and Gottfried Lenz, front-line comrades who own a small car repair shop. They are people of the “lost generation”, who lost faith in political idols and social ideals. These are none other than the heroes of the novels “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Return” who have matured over the ten post-war years. Protecting themselves from the hostile forces of society, they seek support in simple forms of human solidarity, conditioned by their front-line experience, in mutual assistance, friendship and love. They are emphatically apolitical and live in the closed world they have created, as if out of time, out of the reality surrounding them. However, the existing fascist order takes cruel revenge on the heroes for their departure from the problems of modernity. The “last romantic” Lenz dies absurdly (he is accidentally killed by a stormtrooper), Robert, who has lost his beloved, sinks into despair, and tragically experiences the death of Robert’s friend Kester.
Remarque's "Three Comrades" is a novel written in the form of a diary, breaking up into separate, chronologically following episodes. His characters are not only alter ego » of the author, but also typical representatives of their generation. Thus, the subjective, lyrical line of narration is connected with the objective chronicle. The feverish pace of life, the departure of the best people from public and political life, a feeling of unsteadiness of the ground, growing distrust and discontent, a premonition of tragic events. It is no coincidence that the finale of the novel is the most pessimistic and hopeless of all the works of the writer.
"Three Comrades" is a book not only and not so much about friendship as about love. Robert's love for Pat, their relationship gives meaning to their existence in this cruel and incomprehensible world. The love scenes of the novel amaze with their poetry, sincerity, tenderness and shrillness. "Three Comrades" is one of Remarque's most famous novels. To this day, readers in different countries of the world are attracted by Remarque's interpretation of the eternal problems of love, friendship, devotion, life and death.
THREE COMRADES
The main character, Robert Lokamp, arrives at work early in the morning and sees an old woman, cleaning lady Mathilde Stoss, clumsily dancing. It is not the first time he finds her in this form and knows that the reason for the dances is the cognac left in plain sight in the evening. But today is his birthday, and instead of scolding the old woman, Lokamp treats her to Hawaiian rum. Delighted that her sin is forgotten, the old woman thanks him and, glorifying the birthday man, leaves. Lokamp sits down at the table, takes out a sheet of paper and tries to write down what has been with him for thirty years. He has the feeling that he is sixteen and sixty at the same time. Real life for him began at the age of eighteen, when he became a recruit. War, revolution, famine, coup, death of a mother. Now he works in "Avrema" - "Car repair shop of Kester and Co." The past, according to Robert, sometimes suddenly rolls over and glares at him with its dead eyes, but for these cases there is vodka. Lenz and Kester arrive, front-line comrades and companions of Lokamp. Gottfried Lenz presents a friend with a horoscope and an amulet, six bottles of rum "twice as old" as the birthday boy decided to drink in nature. After working for the day, the friends get into their old Carl racing car and go to have fun. The main entertainment on the road is to use the unsightly appearance of the car to provoke other drivers to overtake, leaving them with a nose as a result. Lenz, who calls himself the last romantic, claims that "Karl" plays an educational role: he teaches to appreciate the creativity contained in an inconspicuous shell. This time Otto Koester overtakes the Buick. When the comrades stop at a restaurant, the Buick's driver, Binding, catches up with them. His young companion Patricia Holman gets out of the car. The comrades simply did not notice the passenger in the heat of excitement. After meeting, it was decided to have dinner together. Binding examines the "Karl", discusses cars with Kester, sings soldiers' songs in the gazebo with Lenz.
Otto, Robert and Pat remain at the table. Robert is attracted to a girl, but he can't get her attention. But the morning sadness passes, and Lokamp falls into an amazing state: “It seemed that everything was indifferent, just to be alive.” He looks at Pat with new eyes, and he doesn't want to let her go so easily. Saying that he is worried about how drunk Binding will get home, he asks the girl for her phone number.
The next morning, Sunday, Robert slowly packs up and leaves Frau Zalewski's boarding house. The guesthouse is next to a cemetery, an amusement park, the Café Internationale, where prostitutes wait for clients, and the Salvation Army Assembly Hall. Robert has been living there for many years, his neighbors are lonely, unsettled people, they have either already lost their jobs or live in fear of losing it. These are the Hasse spouses, constantly quarreling because of lack of money, the secretary Erna Benig, the Russian Count Orlov - a hired dance partner; Georg Blok, a student who can't find a job to pay for his studies. Robert's social circle is small: front-line comrades and prostitutes from cafes who consider him their friend.
All day Robbie wanders aimlessly around the city. In the evening he comes to the workshop, helps Otto with the repair of the Cadillac, which they intend to then profitably sell. Refusing to go to boxing, Robert returns to the boarding house and visits a neighbor. Deciding to finally call Patricia, he finds her at home. Irritation and discontent disappear. Robert asks how we arrived yesterday, and suggests that Pat meet the day after tomorrow. After changing his mind, he goes to boxing. Now everything around him seems comfortable.
On Tuesday morning, the Cadillac is ready. Friends compose an advertisement for the sale and immediately get a new job: they need to restore a Ford that has been in an accident. A half-drunk baker crashed into a brick wall on him, his pregnant wife died from blood loss, he does not mourn, but seeks to extract greater benefits from insurance.
A date with Pat is scheduled for five o'clock in some ladies' candy store, they are uncomfortable in it, Robert offers to go to a bar. There is a familiar atmosphere: colleague Valentin Gauser, who daily celebrates that he is still alive; well-trained bartender Fred, twilight and coolness. Pat seems to the hero an impregnable Amazon, a creature from another world. He had not communicated with girls for a long time and simply lost the skill of communicating in private.
The cafe is too noisy, in the silence of the bar, a casual conversation does not work. Then Robert orders rum and he loosens his tongue. Seeing off Pat, Robbie is horrified: why didn’t he tell her, besides, he doesn’t remember anything! Having quarreled with a passer-by, he returns to the bar and gets drunk to the green devils. Robert does not tell his friends about the meeting with Pat.
In the evening, Lilly, a prostitute from the hotel, is honored at the Café Internationale. She marries and says goodbye to her friends. Not everyone is so lucky. Rosa the Iron Mare was left alone with the child, she gave her daughter to an orphanage. Mimi's husband died in the war from pneumonia, and not in battle, so no pension was given for him, and the woman was forced to go to the panel. Lokamp is invited as a dear guest of these women lost in life. According to Robert, in the world “everything fell apart, was saturated with falsehood and was forgotten. And if you didn't know how to forget, then you were left with nothing but impotence, despair, indifference and vodka. Dealers were celebrating. Corruption. Poverty". A lonely person cannot be left, he has nothing but loneliness, Lokamp believes. And so he does not dare to have a serious relationship with Pat, being afraid to become attached to the girl: "Possession is already a loss." But in the morning he sends her a large bouquet of roses, she thanks him on the phone.
The auto repair shop is trying to stay afloat. Friends are looking for a buyer for a refurbished Cadillac. Kester seeks tax cuts in the finance department. Bring in a Ford for repairs. Lenz, Kester and the artist Ferdinand Grau, who paints portraits of the dead, call themselves lost people; their lives are shattered, and it is impossible to glue the pieces together. All of them. like Robert, went through the war. But Robert, in their opinion, is not yet dead.
Relationship with Pat develops. Robert drives her in a Cadillac, which he later manages to sell for a profit. Introduces friends, leads to his room. There, young people kiss for the first time. But they don’t talk about falling in love, on the contrary, they claim that they are not in love, trying to convince themselves that there is no serious relationship between them, although they spend the night together. They go to places familiar to Lokamp, often dine with Alfons, a friend of Lenz and the owner of a pub, the girl quickly becomes her own company.
Friends buy taxis at an auction and start driving, Robert learns the profession of a taxi driver. The Ford is repaired and the owner, the baker, is taking it. His pregnant wife died in the accident. Despite the fact that another woman is already hovering around him, the widower commissions a portrait of his deceased wife from the artist Grau.
Robert comes to visit Patricia for the first time and is surprised by the rich, by his standards, environment. It turns out that Pat lives in his former apartment, where he rents two rooms, and she has her own furniture. The girl speaks from time to time about feeling unwell, that she was ill for a year without going out, but she doesn’t talk about it anymore. She talks about the upcoming work - under the patronage of a friend, Breuer, she can work as a gramophone saleswoman, she has a musical education. Robbie looks around the room and bedroom, Pat treats him to a specially bought rum - he has not yet been so taken care of. He feels himself getting sentimental and for the first time gets drunk not out of grief, but out of joy. After having lunch with his comrades, he returns to the girl and feels his stiffness disappear and there is a feeling that nothing in their relationship can be fake. They are having fun with Robert's friends. They go to the theater and there they meet Breuer, who invites them to a restaurant. Restaurants and old acquaintances of Pat replace each other, and Robert begins to be jealous of her past. In addition, Patricia loves to dance, but Robert does not know how. She dances with Breuer and Lokamp only gets angry and drinks rum. When Breuer takes them home, Robert does not even say goodbye to Pat, but asks to be dropped off at the bar. But intoxication does not come, and feelings are aggravated. He is insanely longing for Pat. Returning home, he finds a frozen girl at his door. Realizing what this return, waiting, was for her, Robbie is distraught. He warms Pat with tea, she stays with him until the next evening. “True love does not tolerate strangers,” they say to each other.
Meanwhile, the baker's new passion incites him to buy a Cadillac. He comes to the workshop, where he learns that the car has been sold. Seeing a resale opportunity, Lokamp negotiates with a previous buyer and closes the deal for everyone's benefit.
Taking a two-week vacation, Robert is taking Patricia to the sea. They enjoy the beauty of nature and solitude, but suddenly misfortune occurs. Pat suddenly begins to bleed from the lungs. It turns out that she has long been ill with tuberculosis. Robert often noticed that Pat's cheerfulness was abruptly replaced by fatigue, but the girl hid the illness from Robert, thinking that he would become afraid of her. The local doctor is doing everything he can, but the help of the permanent doctor Pat is needed. Robert calls his friends and Kester brings the professor
Jaffe on his "Karl" in an unthinkable short time. The bleeding stops, Pat gradually comes to his senses. The professor's verdict is to go home, the local climate does not suit the girl.
As he leaves, Robert thinks it was all just a bad dream. He dreams of moving Pat to a boarding house, where the room next to him is just being vacated. Then Robert will be able to constantly look after the sick girl.
But Pat doesn't want to be seen as sick. The Buddies have to be creative and replace the ingredients in the cocktail with non-alcoholic ones, show that they are not among the first to leave the cafe and treat her as usual. Unexpectedly for Robbie Pat agrees to move in with him. So that the girl does not get bored during the day when he is at work, Robert gives her an Irish Terrier puppy.
The comrades make little money from hauling, and besides, working moments sometimes have to be resolved with their fists. The hero now needs to earn twice as much, and unemployment is growing, and the unfavorable winter for auto repair is approaching.
Lokamp meets with Patricia's doctor. Jaffe tells him that two years ago the girl underwent a six-month course of treatment in a sanatorium, after which her condition improved. We need to go back to the mountains for treatment. It is impossible to stay in the city of Pat: both lungs are affected. It is not known what to expect, improvement or deterioration. Seeing the state of Robert, Jaffe leads him through the wards. A woman without a nose, a man in agony, paralyzed, a crippled child, a woman with an amputated breast, a worker with crushed kidneys - an endless chain of suffering ends with the look of one patient, in which Robert reads masculinity and calmness. “It would be pointless to reassure you with words,” says Jaffe, “many of these people suffer more than Pat, but most survive. The terminally ill may outlive the healthy."
The professor himself had a twenty-year-old wife who died of the flu nine years ago. He advises Robert not to show his anxiety and send Pat to a sanatorium in the fall.
Everything is worse with money. A random win at the races saves Robbie's financial situation a little. He is forced not to buy flowers for his beloved, but to cut off in the park and church garden. The car, restored after the accident, turns out to be owned by a bankrupt, it is sold under the hammer, the workshop is deprived of a possible income. "Karl", technically improved, races and comes first, but this money will not last long. Life is reduced to the struggle for existence. Against this background, the happiness of love seems overwhelming.
But everything around says that love is not enough to survive. Hasse's neighbor's wife is leaving, she has found a richer man. This happens just when the spouse is seeking a long-awaited increase in salary. Unable to survive the departure of his wife, Hasse commits suicide - hangs himself. Many leave thus from an insoluble problem - unemployment. Robert and Pat go to the museum for an exhibition of Persian carpets and see quite a lot of visitors, but, according to the caretaker, now people come to the museum on free days not from craving for beauty, but because they have nothing to do; In winter, when they get cold, they come in to warm up. “Humanity has created immortal works of art, but failed to give each of its fellows at least enough bread,” Lokamp reflects.
In mid-October, Dr. Jaffe tells Robert that it's time for Patricia to go for treatment. A farewell dinner is arranged for the girl at Alphonse's. Robert drives her. On the train, they meet fellow travelers, many of them go for treatment not for the first time. Robert reassures himself: it's stupid to worry, people returned from there and lived at home for a whole year. And Pat will be back. The resort is more like a hotel. Robbie spends a week in the guest wing, but he has to go home, earn money for treatment, paid for until January. Pat has to stay in the mountains until May. Locamp should be making more money than before, but too many failures have fallen on the workshop.
In early November, the comrades were forced to sell the Citroen. With this money it was still possible to maintain a workshop, but the situation is getting worse every week. Robert is offered to work part-time at the International Cafe, playing the piano. Pat writes letters.
After Christmas Eve, demonstrations begin, people demand work and bread. The police disperse the demonstrators, there are casualties. Kester and Lokamp go to look for Lenz, he is at one of the political meetings. His friends find him just in time, pull him out of the fight and leave minutes before the police arrive. Gottfried lingers near a street astrologer and receives a prediction: he will live to be eighty years old. Literally a few minutes later, Lenz dies - a passerby shoots at him. Kester decides to punish the criminal himself. The killer is tracked, but he is hiding. Finally, friends meet him in a cafe, Kester pursues him, but Alphonse is ahead of Otto. He avenged his friend himself. The workshop is up for sale. Kester goes to work as a race car driver for the firm.
Robbie still plays in the cafe for prostitutes. A telegram arrives at the boarding house from Pat asking him to come as soon as possible. Robert calls the sanatorium, he is told that the girl had a slight bleeding a few days ago. Kester brings a friend in the Karl. Patricia is not told about Lenz's death. She rejoices at the meeting, takes her friends to a bar, they ride the Karl, they drive up to the highway along which Kester will go home. Pat looks longingly into the distance, and everyone understands that she will not come back. The doctor gives disappointing forecasts. The girl asks Robert to stay with her. He cannot refuse, but he needs money for treatment. Kester leaves and promises to help.
Robbie gets permission to live in the room next to Pat. Gets acquainted with some inhabitants of the sanatorium. They behave differently, but there is no feeling that they are seriously ill people. A husband comes to one of the patients and loudly admires how healthy and good she is here. "Yes, it's not good for me!" - the woman cannot stand it, imprisoned in the mountains for two years already. It is especially difficult for the residents of the sanatorium when the foehn wind blows and “feverish weather” sets in.
Patients go skiing, arrange evening parties and kindly play the lucky ones who are discharged healthy.
The last lucky man is Roth, two years ago he was promised that he would die, but suddenly recovery comes. Roth's problem is that he squandered money in those two years, and now he jokes grimly that he will die exactly as the doctors predicted, but from a bullet. Robert is ready to kill him if it would save Pat.
There are also lovers among them - an elderly Russian and an eighteen-year-old Spaniard Rita. The violinist fights for her attention in a peculiar way, as if competing with the Russian: whoever survives will win. But Rita dies, whose condition was less dangerous than that of Pat. Patricia begins to panic, forbids Robbie from drinking from the same glass with her and kissing her, fearing that he will get sick. She says she wants him to be healthy, get married and have children. But ironic life turns the situation around. Robert has caught a cold and becomes a danger to Pat, he is isolated. The cold passes quickly, but this he amused the girl. Both come to the same thought: "We succeeded, only it did not last long." The hair dryer is blowing again. Pat no longer gets out of bed and is getting weaker every day. She is especially afraid of the last hour between night and morning. Robert moves his bed to his beloved's room and every night sits next to her, telling everything he can remember, brings the radio. The only thing Pat says she thinks about is life and death: “Better to die when you still want to live than to die when you really want to die. When you still want to live, it means that you have something you love. So, of course, it’s harder, but at the same time it’s easier ... I’m grateful to fate that I had you. Every morning the girl is greeted with relief: she has not died. Robert knows she can't get up anymore. Pat melts before our eyes, does not want Robert to see her, exhausted by the disease. The ticking of the clock frightens her, Robbie smashes it against the wall, "breaking time in the middle." Pat dies painfully, exactly at the hour she was afraid of. Until the last, Robert holds his beloved by the hand. Then he washes away the blood from his body, combs Pat, puts him on his bed, covers her with a blanket and, without taking his eyes off her, sits by the bed until morning. “Then morning came, and she was gone.”
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- remark three comrades summary
- analysis of the first chapter three comrades
What is this book about? About friendship and love. To say this is to say nothing and at the same time to express the whole fundamental essence of this work. For me, the novel "Three Comrades", read after an impressive series of books, most of which are based on a love line, became a real diamond among the coals that rolled through my fingers. It was a hit right in the heart.
The main characters - Robert Lokamp (Robbie), Otto Kester and Gottfried Lenz - three friends who went through the war, saturated with this war, but who know the value of human relationships. Three characters: the good-natured dreamer Lenz, the traveler, "the last romantic," as his friends call him; a former pilot and now a skilled race car driver Kester - energetic, sometimes sharp, but easily taking risks for the sake of friendship, and Robert - the hero from whose face the story is being told. It is with his thoughts and feelings that we get acquainted directly and understand that they are close to most people of that time, characteristic of the representatives of the so-called “lost generation”.
Friends open a private auto repair shop to secure some kind of existence for themselves in the difficult post-war years. The car "Karl", the favorite brainchild of three friends, everyday gatherings in a pub, accompanied by warm friendly conversations, arguments and laughter - Remarque gives brilliant, very realistic sketches of the ordinary life of old comrades.
The love line originates from the moment Robert meets a wonderful girl named Patricia Holman. She is natural, open, smart and completely different from the girls he knew before. The image of Patricia is not typical for literature, we are used to seeing heroines endowed with purely feminine features. Pat undoubtedly possesses them, she is very attractive, but some kind of childish enthusiasm slips in her, and sometimes some kind of “male” firmness, she easily fits into a male company, becomes “one of her own” there.
At first, Robert is embarrassed that they belong to different classes, he is afraid that he will not be able to give her luxury, he will not be able to turn her life into a holiday, but it soon turns out that Pat herself is now having a hard time. The war left its cruel imprint on her life. And is there any difference what chairs are in Robert's small room, if there is a spiritual connection between these people, a mutual need for each other.
The heroes of the novel do not say beautiful words to confirm their love, why are they needed, if it is just a form that can remain without content, and if there is a real feeling, it is already known about it. "Buddy," Robert says to Pat. It's so true! After all, she is not just a girl with whom it is pleasant to spend time, she is his friend, the closest person.
“The light of the stage mysteriously illuminated Pat's face. She gave herself completely to the sounds
and I loved her because she didn't lean against me and take my hand, she
not only didn't look at me, but didn't even seem to think about me,
just forgot. I was always disgusted when different things were mixed, I
hated this calf attraction to each other, ... I hated
oily vague glances of lovers, these stupidly blissful
snuggling, that obscene mutton happiness that can never come out
beyond your own limits...
One look can say more about love than many words. We learn about the feelings of the heroes solely by their actions, which they perform at the behest of their hearts.
Remarque has nothing fake, imitated, artificial. The reader feels very well that the main goal of the writer is to show the Real in his works, to get to the bottom of the greatest feelings in a person, to emphasize and separate the really important and eternal from the second-rate, passing.
Love is a willingness to die for a loved one, it is a sincere empathy for his misfortune. A friend is one who can without hesitation give the most precious thing, if necessary, who at any time of the day or night is able to drop everything and rush to your aid. The "Three Comrades" shows just such extreme situations in which a person shows his best qualities, sharp, turning points in which friendship and love are tested for strength.
