The author manages to explain to “K” that he needs to retract his statement or otherwise he will be executed. “K” says that he will, and as a thank you for doing this the author gives him the pencil he asked for, “Was –brauchst-du?” “Bleitstift” […] (p.74). They meet in the corridor of the prison where the pencil is exchanged and the reader learns a bit about the appearance of “K”, “seiner sehr blauen Augen, sein bleiches Gesicht […]. Later “K” thanks him for the pencil and says that he has retracted his statement.
Throughout the story there is the use of italics. These blocks of italics are placed throughout the main body of the story. There is no clear structure and the reader is left a little confused. The reason there is no clear structure is because one moment the narrator is telling us about the fact that he is soon to be executed and is describing the walls of his prison cell, and then next the italics follow this and we read about a Sunday morning, a woman sleeping and a pleasurable breakfast,
[…] Die mauer war vielleicht dick, wie ein Arm lang ist […]
Es ist Sonntagmorgen. D. schälft noch […]
Ich lasse mir ein Frühstück geben. Mit Behagen esse ich das weisse Brot […]
Are the italics a change in time? Is the author trying to tell us about his past? Before prison? Or is it sometime in the future? However there is no coherency between the italics, they simply don’t match up or follow. In order for us to understand the story we have to accept that it doesn’t make sense.
However after reading the story we realise what the italics are and why they were used. The italics are in fact the notes written by the prisoner “K” which he hid in his cell before his death.
‘Dies ist die Geschicte der Notizen die K. mit der Bleitstifte aufzeichnete. Er verbarg die Zettel, auf denen er seinen einsamen Monolog niederkritzelte, in der Dielenritze der Zelle 8 […]’
The italics – K’s thoughts, don’t make sense on their own but when the narrators (K’s cellmate) perspective and the italics interlock the reader has a much greater understanding of this interesting short story.
After reading Weisenborns “Die Aussage” we see that communication is not only the central theme of the story, but it is also a means of survival. Communication in this story comes in many forms, the statements made against the prisoner, the Morse code between the two prisoners and “K’s” notes that he hid in his cell.
In the following short story that will be discussed, Popp und Mingel by Marie-Luise Kaschnitz, it’s the lack of communication that plays a central part in it. The story is told in the 1st person narrative (a young boy). We see everything through the eyes of the boy and we also hear the words spoken to him by the adults through his perspective.
The story begins when we meet this young boy, who comes home to an empty house and is all alone. However, this is something he appears to be used to, “ich müsste das doch gewöhnt sein […]” (p.59). So immediately we see that this is a boy who spends a lot of time at home alone, where there is not much communication between him and the other members of his family. He talks about the fact that he could have done anything and the family would not have objected. There is no parental guidance or voice of authority here, yet again showing the breakdown in communication. “[…] an der Ecke sei ein jugendfreier Film gelaufen, taschengeld hätte ich ja genug, und sie hätten auch nichts dagegen gehabt” (p.59).
The boy goes on to tell us about the dark staircase he walks up and how it is representative of the time of year, perhaps this darkness echoes his feelings of fear of being alone in the house or his sadness about not having someone to welcome him home. Even the dog on the staircase, who would always bark at him, is exceptionally quiet on this day. This saddens the boy as he was secretly hoping for some kind of response from him to perhaps reduce some of his loneliness. “[…] An dem Tag ist er aber nicht aufgesprungen […] und ich weiss noch, dass mir das nicht gefallen hat.” (p.60).
The young boy then goes on to tell the reader about one of the conversations he remembers having with his parents. They promised him that when they got the car they would bring him for a picnic in the forest and they could play football. However, this promise is quickly broken when the parents use the car to take their friends out. This shows yet another lapse in communication, not giving the boy much confidence in what his parents say.
[…] dass wir, wenn der Wagen erst da ist, alle drei zusammen in den Wald Fahren warden und dort picknicken […]
[…] Aber dazu ist es nie gekommen, weil sie, als sie den Wagen endlichgehabt haben, immer Freunde mitgenommen haben […]
The boy feels so starved of attention from the lack of communication with his family that he wishes that his mother was ill so she would have to stay at home, like before, when he brought her coffee in bed. He wishes she had so stay at home so he could have someone to talk to. “[…] und den Kaffee ans Bett gebracht habe […]” (p.61)
However to add insult to injury his mother had often said that she really enjoyed getting out of the house and going to the office because staying at home all day would be very boring. Not only that but she liked to go out in the evening too. “[…] weil sie es so langweilig fände, den ganzen Tag zu hause zu sein […]” (p.61). All this only fuels the young boys feelings of separation and loneliness as he is left to read his books alone, “[…] kann ich meine Bücher allein lesen […] (p.61)
All these feelings of isolation from his family and lack of communication with others, force him to invent a family, a family to whom he can speak with. He makes this family from some old toys, a mother, a father and a brother and sister. He comes home from school and this family greets him and they speak together. They are friendly to one another and laugh together, “[…] bricht meine Familie in lautes fröhliches Gelächter aus “(p.62). He seeks in this invented family what is lacking in his real family. This shows the reader just how lonely this boy must feel not being able to talk to his real family; it shows his desperation in wanting to talk to someone.
When his mother accidentally throws away his invented family mistaking them for old toys, the boy is devastated and searches high and low for them, […]”ich habe an dem Nachmittag immer noch weitergesucht[…]”(p.64,65). It is this desperation that drives him to contemplate going out with the group of boys on the corner of the street, who get up to no good, in order to alleviate his loneliness. This is when his feelings of loneliness get the better of him. He lights the cooker to heat up some food, and the flames are so high, bright and warm, in stark contrast to his family environment, which appears to be cold and hostile and he thinks that the flames are alive and that perhaps they can talk.
[…] und die Flammen waren so hoch und lebendig und hell und warm, und ich habe mich gefreut und gedacht, dass man mit den Flammen vielleicht auch reden kann […]
The rubbish catches fire and the apartment goes on fire, luckily his father rescues him in time, but perhaps this was a way in which he tried to communicate to his family. He knew this would get their attention!
The theme of communication is central to both of the short stories discussed above. Literature itself is a form of communication telling the readers something about the lives of the characters within the story. The narrative perspectives used in the stories are forms of communication in themselves because narration is the link between how the author writes his story and how he wants us as the readers to perceive it. Communication or lack of it is the main ideas used by Weisenborn and Kaschnitz to tell their story. In “Die Aussage” communication keeps one man alive and in Popp und Mingel it’s the lack of communication between a boy and his parents that makes him realise that he accepts his family for who they are and that he is no longer a child, […] dass man kein Kind Mehr ist. (p.66)
Bibliography:
Kaschnitz, Maire-Luise. Popp und Mingel, Siebzehn Kurzgeschichten.
Weisenborn, Günther. Die Aussage, Siebzehn Kurzgeschichten.
Sieszehn Kurzgeschichten, Weisenborn Günther. Die Aussage. Stuttgart 1982, p.71.
Siebzehn Kurzgeschichten, Weisenborn Günther. Die Aussage. Stuttgart 1982, p.75.
Siebzehn Kurzgeschicten, Kaschnitz Maire-Luise. Popp und Mingel, p.60, 61.
Siebzehn Kurzgeschichten, Kaschnitz Maire-Luise. Popp und Mingel, p.65, 66.
