Fritz Honka's chronic rheumatism

Fritz Honka's chronic rheumatism marks the persistence of bodily suffering through a period when his circumstances appear to improve. The account describes the joint disease as chronic by the time he is thirty-eight, amid increasingly frequent headaches, breathlessness, and infections. His new work as a night watchman changes his daily life, but the narrative offers no indication that the illness itself has eased.

Bodily Distress and Self-Perception

An earlier passage presents Fiete Honka wishing he could sleep for a month, a quarter of a year, or half a year and wake as another person. He imagines that person with straight limbs, teeth, speech, hands, and hair, and with a clear, steady gaze; he is especially preoccupied with his misaligned eyes. The passage does not attribute these features to rheumatism, but places the later account of chronic joint disease within a broader portrayal of alienation from his own body.

Chronic Symptoms and Decline

By thirty-eight, Fiete Honka's joint rheumatism has become chronic. Attacks of pain in his temples and forehead come increasingly often. When someone listens, he describes the sensation as a machine boring inside his head and large nails shooting out of his ear. The account also records the strain of smoking sixty Sheffield cigarettes a day: he has become very short of breath and frequently suffers from infections. In a six-month period, he has severe bronchitis and a middle-ear infection as well as the recurring headaches and joint complaints.

Work and the Limits of Improvement

In June, Fiete Honka unexpectedly gets a job as a night watchman for Shell, patrolling the factory grounds and office buildings in City Nord. The work is framed as a turn toward a better life: its hours keep him from going out, and he drinks much less, limiting himself after work to a couple of beers and the same number of spirits before bed. He also understands the job as a departure from the degrading, physically punishing work he had endured in St. Pauli. Yet the change in routine and status does not erase the chronic rheumatism or the other physical problems described at thirty-eight; the narrative places the promise of a more respectable life beside an illness that remains part of his condition.