Journey to the End of the Night

In the army, Bardamu does not trust his superior officers. The colonel punishes any soldiers showing fear, even while the Germans are killing their comrades. The colonel is soon killed in a blast, and Bardamu, surrounded by dead bodies and “tangled meat” (22), flees. Desperate to escape the war, he wonders whether he should desert, give himself up as a prisoner, or deliberately get injured so badly that he is sent away from the front line. He wanders through the rain, across the fields of Flanders, and worries that he will be condemned to a firing squad if he does not return to his regiment. Finally, he finds his regiment, whereupon he is immediately put back to work carrying meat and supplies. By the end of August, he is promoted to corporal. He is assigned to a detail under the command of General des Entrayes, whose chief of staff is “a first-rate swine” (26). Bardamu resents every officer he meets, as they all seem intent on sending him to his death or subjecting him to menial labor. Often, he and his comrades are sent on meandering, meaningless missions, creeping “from ambush to ambush” (28). Bardamu also hates the non-commissioned officers, who harass him day and night. They are surrounded by burning villages; even though the war has only been raging for just over a month, the countryside is being destroyed. The roads are soon clogged with artillery columns and fleeing civilians as Bardamu and his comrades “line up for the privilege of getting killed” (33). As weeks pass, Bardamu is sent north. The men long for the night, when they are less likely to be shot, though the nights are also miserable and frightening. When not being shot at by the enemy, Bardamu is in danger of dying from exhaustion as he runs food supplies across the front line among the ruined villages. Bardamu wishes that he would be taken prisoner.

One night, Bardamu knocks on the door of a house in a seemingly deserted village. The Germans have passed through, burning most buildings and killing most people. A small family of survivors sells him a bottle of wine to quench his thirst. As he searches for the town of Noirceur, Bardamu surveys the “black voracious void” (42) of the night. The silence worries him. Amid this beguiling calm, he meets a reservist who confesses that he plans to get himself captured. This man is Léon Robinson and, like Bardamu, he is afraid of the pointless, absurd war. He would rather be captured and spend the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp than risk his life. Bardamu joins Robinson, and they journey through the night to the town of Noirceur, where they find the mayor. They discover that the mayor has already reached an agreement with the Germans to surrender peacefully, in “the interests of the public at large” (46). Sensing that they are not welcome, Bardamu and Robinson depart. Since there are no Germans to take them prisoner, the two men part ways.

Bardamu is wounded, so he is sent to a hospital to recover. He complains about the civilians, who are “infected with the idea of glory” (49). Bardamu receives a medal for his unspecified wound, but he remains as disgusted with the war as ever. During his recovery in a hospital in Paris, he meets a young American woman named Lola. She has come to save France with her boundless passion and enthusiasm, while Bardamu has grown “phobically allergic to heroism” (50). Lola has organized a group of “mercenary cooks” (51) to produce apple fritters every day for the brave French people. She and Bardamu begin a romantic relationship; despite his disdain for her enthusiasm and patriotism, he enjoys their sex life. She makes him interested in visiting the United States in the future, while he lies to her about his experiences in the war to keep her interested in him. At a carnival, they visit a shooting gallery. Lola wants to see Bardamu’s shooting prowess, but he has a panic attack, feeling as though the targets are shooting back at him. Bardamu is eventually taken away by the police, having been “driven mad by fear” (60).

Bardamu is sent to a psychiatric hospital for “the mentally wounded” (60). Bardamu recalls a sexual relationship with the female concierge, who offers to provide him with false papers to escape the hospital. The patients are strictly observed so that they can be sent either to an asylum, to a firing squad, or back to the front line. Lola visits regularly in the hope that Bardamu will be cured, but he tells her that there is no cure for fear. She accuses him of being an “absolute coward” (64) and leaves him. Bardamu gets to know his fellow patients, many of whom have been traumatized by the war. Bardamu listens to them criticize “all the murderous hypocrisies of [their] Society” (67).

Even amid the war, Bardamu thinks about his need for sex and love. Together with the other patients, he regularly visits a local lingerie shop, where love is “easily and cheaply available” (70). During this time, Bardamu meets a young violinist named Musyne. Their brief relationship ends when she leaves Bardamu for one of the wealthy Argentinian war profiteers who have descended on Paris. Compared to these rich people, Bardamu realizes that he has little to offer to Musyne, no matter how much he might love her.