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Márai's traumatic experiences with the Soviet occupiers lead him to generalize about Hungary's unique history and place in the world. He sees Hungarians as "a people, in awful isolation, companionless among the peoples of the world." (p. 73) The more he witnesses the brutal side of the Russians, the more he identifies Hungary as non-Slavic and Western. At one point he speculates on Hungary's good fortune that it did not "vanish in the Slavic melting pot," which he thinks could have happened in 900 A.D., when the Hungarians renounced paganism and embraced Christianity. At that time Hungary opted for the Western Roman Church instead of the Byzantine church, "which Slavic characteristics had permeated by then." (p. 73)
Maligning the Soviet Union and everything "Eastern" serves a special purpose for Márai. The more backward he can portray the East, the more enlightened he can become by contrast as a Hungarian and "Westerner." Indeed, one senses that Márai is groping for an identity in his geographical location. Beneath the seemingly objective and dispassionate observance of events is a talented and sensitive writer searching for an unaltering identity.
The reader discovers, however, that Márai's attempt at self-identification on the basis of geographic location is relative. As he travels toward the West, he notes certain negative qualities of the people there, and begins to see himself as an "Easterner" after all. In 1947 he travels to Switzerland, Italy, and France. Switzerland, with its brightly lit streets, abundant display windows, and thoroughly swept streets, strikes Márai as too clean. Like a castrated animal, Switzerland is "sterile" because it had remained neutral during the Second World War. He feels claustrophobic there because everything is done on the basis of "systems," not individual personal contacts. Italy seems a bit friendlier because, like Hungary, it is one of the poverty-stricken, vanquished powers of the Second World War. France brings back old memories of his last visit there right after the First World War. In all three Western European countries, however, Márai perceives a condescending attitude toward him (beneath the polite veneer) because he is an "Easterner." In contrast, the Russians and other Slavic peoples treat Márai violently but with "a measure of underlying respect", because to them he is a Westerner and a writer.

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