Mother Night Chapter 14 Summary

View Down a Stairwell…

  • A week after Campbell discovered these documents in his mailbox, Jones paid him a visit.
  • Campbell had tried to preempt him with a visit to the newspaper, where he tried to get Jones to print a retraction. It was a no-go.
  • Campbell has been a receiving a lot of <3-you-mucho fan mail from hate-filled people since the publication of that newspaper story. One woman even sends him money and wishes him a spot in heaven.
  • Then, one day, Jones visits while Kraft is painting a portrait of Campbell. (Campbell at this point still has zero idea that Kraft was the crafty culprit who leaked his whereabouts to Jones and even—gasp—suggested that Jones notify O'Hare.)
  • Kraft and Campbell hear people coming up the stairs in the hall chanting something.
  • Campbell looks out and sees four people: Jones, his bodyguard, his secretary, and a woman.
  • The bodyguard is August Krapptauer. He was part of a German-American hate-group that collaborated with the KKK.
  • The secretary is an excommunicated priest named "Father" Keeley who was part of a gun club organized by Nazis.
  • The woman is not yet known to us. Mystery. Intrigue.
  • Campbell lets us know that a lot of anti-Semitic rhetoric Keeley and Krapptauer repeated was actually stuff Campbell made up and shared on his radio broadcasts during the war.
  • Awkward sauce.
  • Campbell sees that Jones has a hand bejeweled with rings. One is a gift from Robert Sterling Wilson, known as "The Black Fuehrer of Harlem." In 1942, Wilson had been imprisoned for spying on the U.S. for Japan.
  • Once the group reaches the apartment, Jones says: I've got a surpriiiiiise for youuuuuuu.
  • Campbell: I already saw the newspaper.
  • Jones: No, my pet. An even better surprise.
  • At this point, Campbell tells us, he is about to put Jones in his place, denounce his vile beliefs, and reveal that the two of them actually never had a thing in common. But Jones speaks before Campbell can.
  • Jones: I've brought you your wife.