Isherwood visits Frau Nowak, Otto’s mother, at their apartment in Berlin. Isherwood is looking for a cheaper room to rent in the neighborhood. As Otto and Isherwood are leaving the apartment to find Isherwood a new room, Frau Nowak calls Otto back to speak with him. Otto tells Isherwood that Frau Nowak wants to offer him a room with them. Frau Nowak is worried that “it won’t be what [Isherwood] is accustomed to” (105). Isherwood, however, decides to stay with the Nowaks.

Frau Nowak constantly complains about how lazy Otto and Grete, her 12-year-old daughter, are. Frau Nowak considers her other son, Lothar, to be a “model son” (107). Otto playfully mocks his mother and sister during his mother’s protests. When Herr Nowak comes home, Frau Nowak scolds him for being drunk. Lothar is with Herr Nowak. Lothar is 20 years old and is going to night school to earn a degree in engineering. According to Frau Nowak, Lothar is involved with Nazi politics. Herr Nowak explains that his political position is that every man is equal: “a Frenchman’s as good as an Englishman; an Englishman’s as good as a German” (110). 

Otto shows Isherwood a hidden tin containing letters and photographs of admirers.