Amerika: The Missing Person

Karl is given a chance to “better [his] status” (89) at the Hotel Occidental. He is eager to work because he is anxious that he will end up destitute like Delamarche and Robinson. He feels he has more to make up for due to his banishment by his parents and now, his uncle. For him, a job and success at said job will offer belonging and security. Like his learning English, Karl quickly learns how to be a lift-boy.

Karl spends his evenings studying business, wondering how the other lift-boys became so “reconciled” (105) to their low status in life. However, while Karl works hard, he also allows himself to be exploited by Rennel.

While certain aspects of Karl’s life are within his control, shifts in fortune tend to be outside of it. Karl’s luck mostly comes from chance meetings with people who share kinship or sympathize with him. Earlier, a blood relative helped Karl and now, the hotel’s Head Cook does so because of their shared German background. In both cases, Karl is given chances to elevate his class position rather than working for them.

Where Karl failed with his uncle, he seeks to succeed with the Head Cook’s advice. The dynamic between fate and human agency emerges as significant to Karl’s happiness and ability to pursue the kind of life he wants. The shifts in Karl’s status, between destitution and wealth, poverty and steady work, seem to depend almost entirely on luck. Karl is only able to succeed if and when given the chance to do so. This underlies the cruelty of American capitalism and the vast divide between the rich and the poor. At the same time, Karl’s bad luck seems to emerge from a combination of his own flaws and others’ malice.

Karl is aware of his luck and attempts to even the playing field: He “didn’t want to incur the envy” (98) of his coworkers by taking up the Head Cook’s offer to find him a private room. However, had he taken up on said offer, the next chapter might have panned out differently (i.e., Robinson sneaks in to sleep off a hangover). Karl’s desire to prove himself as himself (without a given advantage) is admirable, but it also causes him trouble.

Karl’s interactions with Rennel reiterate that he has much to learn about advocating for himself. Karl pulls his own weight, but also allows his fellow lift-boys to shirk their duties. Rennel exploits Karl’s dutiful nature by asking him to cover for him when he wants to go to Ramses. While Rennel is partying, he runs into Delamarche and Robinson. This fateful encounter leads to yet another shift in fortune for Karl.

The chapter’s end foreshadows Karl’s reunion with Delamarche and Robinson. When Therese begs Karl not to speak to Delamarche again, the latter’s carefully worded response is that he won’t unless he must. In addition, Karl’s view of Delamarche as “nothing worse than a scamp” (107) shows that he does not fully agree with Therese’s judgment and perhaps, even forgives his former companions. In the next chapter, Karl pays dearly for this mistake (i.e., he is fired due to Robinson’s drunken behavior).