Narrator Beats Frieder

The narrator beats Frieder after Frieder admits that he deliberately tried to make a police officer shoot him. The assault turns the narrator’s fury and fear into physical action, but Frieder’s refusal to fight back leaves the confrontation unresolved rather than making it a reciprocal fight.

The Admission

Back in the kitchen at home, Frieder is sitting while something cooks on the stove. The narrator sits down beside him and asks what happened. Frieder answers that he had deliberately provoked the officer, repeating that he had meant to bring about the shooting. The confession changes the meaning of the encounter with the police: what might have looked like an immediate danger imposed from outside was, in Frieder’s account, something he had actively sought.

The Assault

The narrator responds with a series of blows. He slaps Frieder across the face, first on one side and then the other, then strikes his upper body with full force. Frieder falls from his chair, and the narrator sits on top of him, insults him, and continues hitting him. In the middle of the violence, the narrator tells Frieder to kill himself if that is what he wants, but insists that he must not drag the others into it. The assault is therefore not simply anger at Frieder’s self-endangerment; it also expresses the narrator’s demand that Frieder’s choices not expose the people around him to danger.

Frieder’s Response and the Scene’s Ending

Frieder turns onto his side and tries to throw the narrator off, but does not strike back. That distinction keeps the episode from becoming a mutual brawl: the narrator continues attacking while Frieder’s resistance is limited to trying to escape the weight on him. The scene then breaks off, and the narrative moves to the German Abitur. No reconciliation or resolution is shown here; the immediate outcome is a violent confrontation followed by an abrupt shift to the next subject.