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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If on a winter’s night a traveler, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Act of Reading
Academia and Publishing
Censorship and Government Oppression
Love, Lust, and Anxiety
Summary
Analysis
Monday. The narrator, who writes this whole chapter as a series of diary entries, goes for long walks along the shore every morning. The narrator passes by the prison on his usual route and sees a hand sticking out a window. The narrator is impressed, thinking it must have been very difficult for a prisoner to get a hand through the grilles on the windows.
The diary style of this story immediately differentiates it from the previous ones, fulfilling the narrator’s promise at the beginning that “you” will experience a wide range of styles. The diary might seem to be a very personal and revealing genre, but this novel has already raised questions about how first-person narrators can conceal information, raising questions about what the narrator isn’t revealing (or is perhaps failing to see).
Themes
The narrator resumes his walk and comes across Miss Zwida wearing a white straw hat and sitting in a chair at a seaside hotel. The narrator has been seeing her a lot on his walks despite his efforts to avoid her. He hasn’t talked to Miss Zwida yet because he’s afraid she’ll bring up the topic of seashells, and the narrator won’t know how to respond because he used to know a lot about seashells but forgot everything he knew.
Zwida Ozkart was a character in the previous story, but aside from the name, there is nothing to suggest that this new Zwida has any direct relation to that previous character. Nevertheless, this Zwida does have some traits in common with many of the other female characters in the story, fascinating the male protagonist because he seemingly has something in common with her (in this case, an interest in seashells), but also remaining at an unreachable distance.
Themes
Later that Monday, the narrator talks with Mr. Kauderer the meteorologist who works at a local observatory. The narrator likes how Mr. Kauderer seems reserved but becomes friendly whenever they talk about the weather. Mr. Kauderer mentions he has a trip coming up and asks if he can trust the narrator to record some data while Mr. Kauderer is away. The narrator agrees.
Mr. Kauderer is yet another character who shares a name with a character from the previous story. In some ways, Mr. Kauderer the meteorologist is similar to Mr. Kauderer the farmer, since both a meteorologist and a farmer need to pay attention to the weather.
Themes
Tuesday. The narrator talks to Miss Zwida for the first time. He makes conversation about a sketch of a sea urchin that she’s working on. After the narrator leaves to go check on the observatory, he sees two men there in heavy black coats who ask to see Mr. Kauderer the meteorologist. When the narrator says Mr. Kauderer is away, the men say it’s not important and leave.
The men in black coats from this suggest crime or espionage, recalling the paranoid mood of the first story. The narrator characters often get glimpses of powers bigger than themselves, with the men in black coats suggesting secret police, spies, or other shadowy government agents.
Themes
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Wednesday. The narrator goes to the hotel and finds Miss Zwida wearing a black veil. The narrator then sees the two men in black. Later in the day, he ponders while writing in his diary who will ever read what he writes and if they’ll even understand his meanings.
Miss Zwida’s black veil could suggest that she is conspiring with the strange men, or it could suggest that the presence of these strange men in town is a cause for morning. While the narrator questions if anyone will understand what he writes, perhaps the real question is how much the narrator himself understands, including if there are things about the mysterious Miss Zwida he isn’t able to perceive.
Themes
Thursday. The narrator learns that Miss Zwida has a permit to visit the prison on specific days. He sees her in the prison yard but says nothing. Later, the two of them talk. The narrator mentions that if he ever learned how to draw, he’d only be interested in inanimate objects. Miss Zwida says she’d like to draw a grapnel (a type of anchor) with 12 meters of rope attached to it. As a young lady, she’s embarrassed about buying a grapnel herself, so the narrator offers to get her one.
Miss Zwida’s request for a grapnel with 12 meters of rope is very specific—although the narrator takes it at face value, it’s clear that there’s something strange about her request. Perhaps the narrator doesn’t understand Miss Zwida because, as he claims, he’s only interested in inanimate objects, and so the complexities of another person like Miss Zwida are too much for him.
Themes
Thursday evening. The narrator goes to a bar to celebrate his day, which he feels has brought him closer to Miss Zwida. He overhears some men talking about a woman who offers to pay him 100 crowns to be left alone with a prisoner.
The narrator feels good enough about his day to celebrate, ignoring all the ominous signs in the story so far, like the men in black coats and the strangeness of Zwida’s request. This passage strongly implies that Zwida is the woman making bribes to see a prisoner, but the naïve narrator doesn’t make the connection.
Themes
Friday. When the narrator tries to buy a grapnel, the fisherman he’s talking to gets suspicious and tells him to go see a chandler. But the chandler also acts suspicious and refuses to sell to the narrator. The chandler explains that in the past, a grapnel has been used to help a prisoner escape the local prison.
The grapnel combined with the mention in the previous section of a woman bribing prison guards suggests that Zwida is indeed planning to break someone out of prison, and yet it's still unclear whether the narrator realizes this.
Themes
Saturday. Mr. Kauderer the meteorologist is back and has sent a note to the narrator, asking him to meet Mr. Kauderer at night at a cemetery. But when the narrator gets to the cemetery, the grave-digger says Mr. Kauderer isn’t there. The narrator enters anyway and is surprised when Mr. Kauderer pulls him aside.
The cemetery is yet another reminder of death in the novel. Mr. Kauderer’s absence and sudden appearance seem to suggest that he is in a transitional state, perhaps forced into hiding to avoid the men in black coats pursuing him. Metaphorically, this places him in a state between alive and dead.
Themes
Mr. Kauderer the meteorologist says the narrator has been reckless, putting the observatory in danger by getting involved in an escape attempt. Mr. Kauderer makes a vague reference to a larger plan more important than any escape attempt. He then warns the narrator that the police will interrogate him the next day about the grapnel. Mr. Kauderer says that the narrator must not mention his name to the police. In addition, the narrator must give up his role working at the observatory.
Mr. Kauderer uses language that evokes ideas of revolution or rebellion, hinting at a theme that will become more prominent in later stories. It is often difficult to figure out the various allegiances of the characters in the stories, including their true allies and enemies. This resonates with the book’s broader focus on the difficulties of knowing another person’s perspective (including how they’ll react to a book).
Themes
Sunday. The narrator goes to the observatory. A storm swirls around him, and the narrator almost feels like he can control it. Suddenly, the narrator hears a creak and looks down. He sees a bearded man in ragged clothes. The bearded man begs the narrator not to betray him. He asks the narrator if he’d be willing to give a message to someone he knows who is staying at the local hotel.
This bearded man is presumably an escaped prisoner who is trying to reach Miss Zwida (who is staying at the hotel and likely his accomplice, based on her earlier actions). Despite all the evidence of conspiracies going on around him, the narrator’s own understanding of what he sees remains ambiguous, and it’s possible that he remains oblivious. And so, yet again, the story cuts off during a moment of suspense.
Themes
