Xinyu Tan’s Reviews > Every Man Dies Alone > Status Update

The vial of cyanide had made him free. The others, his companions in suffering, had to walk to the end of their designated road; he had a choice. He could die at any minute of his choosing. He was free...It was a good life he was leading. He loved it. He wasn't even quite sure he would ever need his glass vial. Perhaps it was better to wait till the very last moment?

"Everyone facing death...will be kicking themselves about each wasted hour."
"...and now I learned that there are loads of other things I could have done: play chess, be kind to people, listen to music, go to theater..."
"No one can develop every side of themselves, Quangle. Life is so rich...You did your job and were a man of integrity. When you were at liberty, Quangle, you had everything you wanted."

Escherich once felt very secure. He once thought nothing could happen to him...And Escherich has had to to give up these little self-deceptions. It happened basically in the few seconds after SS man Dobat smashed him in the face and he became acquainted with fear. In the space of very few days, Escherich become so thoroughly acquainted with fear that now there is no chance of him forgetting it as long as he lives.

“Because you must know, we’ll be very much alone in our cells, without a word to each other, we who haven’t been apart for one single day in twenty years and more. it will be very difficult. But we can be sure the other won’t weaken, that we can depend on each other, in death as in life. We will have to die alone too, Anna.”