Chapter Three

Brief Summary-  Ramius calls a meeting with his officers to discuss their current situation.  It becomes apparent that the other officers are in on Ramius's plan, and believe that now "there is no going back".  During the meeting we are privileged to a flashback in which we learn of Ramius's youth and what drove to him to what his is doing now.  Ramius's grandmother had taught him religion, and he seems to harbor a hatred toward Russia for not being allowed religious freedom.  This hatred grew stronger when his wife Natalia died, and he felt that "The State had robbed him of more than his wife, it had robbed him of a means to assuage his grief with prayer, it had robbed him of the hope-if only an illusion-of ever seeing her again" (33).  He also blamed Russia for his wife's death; the drunk surgeon who caused serious damage to her while operating, and the and untested medicine that had never been inspected, given to her after the surgery.  Neither the doctor or the manufactures of the drug were held responsible, and Ramius wanted to make the state pay for it injustices.

Journal-  I sympathize with Ramius, his past was riddled with suffering cause by the Communist government of Russian.  The death of wife was a series of tragic events that were caused by lax safety precautions and errors of judgment on the parts of many groups, that would have had serious consequences if they had happened in the United States.  His idea to punish Russia is just.