The word belonged to another world: a world of surplus and civil comfort. In the last few months, Lewis’s tastes had narrowed to a simple checklist of immediate and basic needs
The narrator intrudes at this point to explain or show the reader how bad the standards of living were at the time in Germany. Captain Wilkins had suggested that Lewis take possession of the Villa Lubert that belonged to Lubert's family. This was a common practice for the law had allowed the British to take possession of German homes. The economy of Germany had worsened since the Allies had declared victory and the people could barely afford basic needs. The captain had described the place as a palace. Lewis thinks that the word palace belonged to another world because of how bad the economy was in the aftermath of World War II.
These people have little moral compass, sir. They are a danger to us and to themselves. They need to know who is in charge. They need leadership. A firm but fair hand.
Captain Wilkins tells the colonel this because he does not like the Germans. He thinks of them as a class below him for the Germans had lost the war which they had caused. The country was now under the leadership of the British of whom the captain was among. The soldiers had been deployed by the Allied Forces to Germany to maintain law and order in Germany.
Allies had announced the division lines of the new Germany. ‘Looks like you get the bum deal,’ he had said, reading the directive. ‘The French get the wine, we get the view and you guys get the ruins.'
This quote shows the division of Germany by the Allies. Since Germany was being punished for causing the World War II, they were to pay for the damages that had come about as a result of the war. The Allies had taken possession of Germany and its colonies in Africa. Captain Wilkins is agonizing over the fact that the British were given the cities that had been destroyed while France got the grape producing region of Germany.
This is where we liked to watch the boats; ‘This is where we liked to play cards’
Lubert is talking to Lewis as he is taking him around the house. The words betray the pain in Lubert for having to give his house away . It is a house in which Lubert's family had lived in for a long time and it holds many memories. Due to the British Compensation Scheme for soldiers, the Villa Lubert was to be owned by Colonel Lewis. Lubert accepts this though he hopes that Lewis would take pity on him and allow him to stay rather than be forced to go and live in the camps that other Germans lived in.
‘I’d like to propose a different arrangement,’ he said.’
These words are the ones that close the first chapter of the novel. They are very potent because they form the book. Lewis had decided against major opinion to live with Lubert's family in the Villa Lubert. This was unheard of for the British did not fraternize with the Germans. They were supposed to take possession of a house and kick the Germans out of their own homes. Lewis' character as a compassionate person comes out too in his words. He worried that Lubert and his daughter Freda would now live in the streets for he had taken their house.
