Unable to play music due to his shaking arm, the man is pressured by his son to sell his violin.
After comparing his past and current lives, he attempts to play "Ave Maria", or Ellens dritter Gesang, on his violin.
He notices that his father forgot to break the bow, and he plans to sell it in town.
Because Peter committed suicide outside in the cold, his body was unable to be straightened for a coffin; he is buried in a pine box instead.
Peter was retouched and submitted for publication by her English professor, Herbert Bates, without her knowledge.