Mother Night Chapter 11 Summary

War Surplus…

  • Despite being a disappointment to his folks (he's a traitor, a liar, yadda, yadda, yadda), they do not disown Campbell, so he gets a lot—like a lot—of money from their investments.
  • Nonetheless, when in NYC, Campbell only lives on $4 a day and buys everything from U.S. military surplus stores.
  • One day, Campbell buys a tool to whittle wood. One day, he whittles the wood of his broomstick into a set of chess pieces. It's the only thing that has made him excited since his wife died. Before that, he felt exactly zero things.
  • Once the chess set is completed, Campbell knocks on his neighbor's door. Kraft, his neighbor, has four locks, is secretly a Russian spy, and is a former chess master.
  • Campbell knows none of this at the time.
  • Campbell and Kraft become fast friends.
  • Almost everything Kraft tells Campbell is a lie. His real name is Iona Potapov.
  • There's some real talk, though: Kraft reveals he is an alcoholic.
  • Kraft is super grateful for the development of AA. He also uses it as a way to spy on the U.S.
  • Kraft is a super good friend to Campbell. Spoiler alert: he also uses their friendship to throw Campbell under the bus as a way to further help Russia.