Journey to the End of the Night

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses colonial racism and outdated attitudes and treatments around mental health.

The medics at the hospital continue to deem Bardamu “subnormal” (81), much to his relief. He is sent to a hospital that caters to mental health conditions, run by a patriotic doctor and a cadre of attractive nurses. Bardamu, like many other patients, is still haunted by his traumatic experiences on the front line. The hospital is also used by a group of old men who resent the traumatized patients. Meanwhile, Professor Bestombes experiments on the patients using electroshock therapy. This therapy does not work.

Bardamu feels like an actor playing a role. The patients feel similarly, portraying themselves as “an incredible gang of swashbucklers” (87) to impress the nurses. Their feigned patriotism does not ring true. When Bardamu admits to Bestombes that he is struggling to live up to expectations of patriotism and duty, the professor declares Bardamu to be showing “a marked improvement in [his] mental state” (88). Bestombes praises the war for supplying him with “an unprecedented means of trying men’s nervous systems” (89). Bardamu assures Bestombes that he is beginning to understand.

Bardamu receives a visit from his mother; he wrote to her because he felt that he had “nobody left” (91).