In Chap­ter 28 of Moth­er Night, the pro­tag­o­nist finds him­self in the base­ment of Dr. Jones’ home, where George Kraft is absorbed in a strange exercise—shooting at a tar­get designed to resem­ble a car­i­ca­ture of a cig­ar-smok­ing Jew. The tar­get, which the pro­tag­o­nist him­self had cre­at­ed back in 1941, is dis­turb­ing in its por­tray­al, show­ing the fig­ure stand­ing on bro­ken cross­es while hold­ing sym­bols of greed and dis­hon­esty. The pro­tag­o­nist is tak­en aback by the sheer crude­ness of the image and reflects on how it man­aged to res­onate so strong­ly with­in the Nazi cir­cles, despite its lack of artis­tic qual­i­ty. What began as an attempt to align him­self with the regime’s ideals has led to an unin­tend­ed con­se­quence: the piece has been praised by influ­en­tial Nazi fig­ures, includ­ing Hein­rich Himm­ler, which strikes the pro­tag­o­nist as both absurd and chill­ing. The real­iza­tion that his art­work, cre­at­ed in an effort to demon­strate loy­al­ty, was lat­er cel­e­brat­ed high­lights the manip­u­la­tive pow­er of pro­pa­gan­da and the ease with which ide­olo­gies can shape pub­lic opin­ion, often dis­tort­ing the truth for the sake of a nar­ra­tive. This rev­e­la­tion forces the pro­tag­o­nist to con­front the pow­er of sym­bol­ism and how his actions have inad­ver­tent­ly sup­port­ed a sys­tem built on dis­tor­tion and vio­lence.

As Kraft con­tin­ues to miss the tar­get with his under­pow­ered Luger, the con­ver­sa­tion between the two men delves into more intro­spec­tive ter­ri­to­ry. Kraft, in a moment of reflec­tion, dis­cuss­es the upheavals in their lives, sug­gest­ing that their suf­fer­ing might lead to per­son­al growth and artis­tic insight. He believes that the vibrant trop­ics, a place he hopes to vis­it, could inspire him to become a bet­ter painter, pro­vid­ing him with the cre­ative reju­ve­na­tion he des­per­ate­ly seeks. The pro­tag­o­nist lis­tens, pon­der­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of growth through adver­si­ty, even though the chaos around them seems to offer lit­tle hope for redemp­tion. Kraft’s ide­al­ism con­trasts with the protagonist’s increas­ing dis­il­lu­sion­ment, but his per­spec­tive serves as a reminder that per­son­al trans­for­ma­tion can arise from even the most chal­leng­ing cir­cum­stances. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts from the pain of the past to the poten­tial for rein­ven­tion, sug­gest­ing that even in times of dark­ness, there is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for cre­ativ­i­ty and renew­al. Their exchange brings into focus the com­plex­i­ties of human nature, with both men seek­ing mean­ing in a world that seems intent on strip­ping away any sense of pur­pose.

The dis­cus­sion takes on a more per­son­al tone as Kraft, reflect­ing on his loss­es, express­es a deep­er appre­ci­a­tion for the val­ue of gen­uine human con­nec­tions. Hav­ing lost his wife, Kraft reveals that he no longer sees any mer­it in ide­o­log­i­cal com­mit­ments or mate­r­i­al pur­suits, but instead val­ues the con­nec­tions he has with those who under­stand him. He offers to join the pro­tag­o­nist on his jour­ney, indi­cat­ing that their bond is stronger than any exter­nal affil­i­a­tion. This moment of emo­tion­al vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty marks a shift in Kraft’s char­ac­ter, as he moves away from a life cen­tered on polit­i­cal ide­olo­gies to one that embraces true com­pan­ion­ship and shared expe­ri­ence. Kraft’s will­ing­ness to sup­port the pro­tag­o­nist, no mat­ter where fate may lead them, under­scores the impor­tance of loy­al­ty and trust in a world marked by chaos and betray­al. The pro­tag­o­nist, moved by Kraft’s sin­cer­i­ty, real­izes that their rela­tion­ship has evolved from mere com­rade­ship into some­thing more profound—a con­nec­tion root­ed in mutu­al under­stand­ing and shared strug­gles. Their con­ver­sa­tion empha­sizes the pow­er of human rela­tion­ships, sug­gest­ing that in the midst of polit­i­cal and ide­o­log­i­cal tur­moil, it is the bonds we form with oth­ers that pro­vide the most sta­bil­i­ty and mean­ing. This chap­ter deep­ens the explo­ration of friend­ship, loy­al­ty, and the search for pur­pose, illus­trat­ing how even in the dark­est moments, per­son­al con­nec­tions can serve as a bea­con of hope.