One for all and all for one?: The Waste Land part 2

I read The Waste Land parts one and two for the second time and I realized that there were some things I didn’t notice in my last entry. I have to say that I disagreed with some of the things that I wrote down in my first entry.

The first element that I had to disagree on was the location of the setting at first in the
poem. Marie is referring to her past in Germany not only because she mentions names of places in German but also because there is a part were there is a sentence written in this language,
“Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.”(8-12)

The usage of different languages such as English, German and French does imply something in the overall meaning of the story. The author is trying to trick us, but as I read carefully I noticed that Marie was probably from Germany but then she went to London. Using various languages is another literary device because it is a way of expressing something, without giving it away as easily. The languages represent as well the countries of England, France and Germany which have had several disputes over history in separate ocassions. For example, England was allied to the USA during WW2 against Nazi Germany. In Aug 31, 1939 civilian evacuations begin to take place in London because of german attacks. Then in Sept 3, 1939 -Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany. On the other hand, UK and France have had a lot of wars and conflicts including one of the Napoleonic wars, which was the war of England against France from 1803-1814.

The second part I didn’t comment on so much last time. This is a chess game that is being played probably by Marie (not sure), Lil (Albert’s wife), and by other women that are all friends with each other. They are talking about how Lil doesn’t want to have anymore kids, but the anti-conceptive pills are not making her feel well. Her husband is at war and he will soon come back and she doesn’t want to face him.
“When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said—
I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself,
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart
He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there.
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set,
He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you.
And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert,
He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time,
And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said.”(139-149)

It is very probable that all of the characters are completely different in this second part an that maybe they don’t connect to the characters mentioned before, as I thought. These is one of those poems that has really different stories and sequences, but that later turns out to be only piece in the end. I will have to wait and see when I re read it so I can understand more in depth.