The Lost Honour Of Katharina Blum Analysis

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Heinrich B ö ll uses his novel, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, to assail modern journalistic moralss every bit good as the values of modern-day Germany. The construction of this novel is of import to conveying his message. He uses a police study format, differences in chapter lengths, storyteller or writer intercession, a caption, and the extended usage of the? puddle? metaphor. All these things contribute towards the message in the text.

The puddle metaphor is the most important device used in the construction of the novel. The “ puddle ” means the corporate information from all the beginnings. The storyteller speaks of the information as? fluid? and he besides talks of the? conductivity? of the information coming from these different beginnings. There are different types of beginnings. There are major and minor beginnings, subterraneous watercourse, and beginnings “ that can ne’er come together ” . The major beginnings are the constabulary transcripts, Blorna ( lawyer ) and Hach ( public prosecuting officer ) . The minor beginnings are Katharina’s brother, Else Woltersheim, etc. The subterraneous watercourses are the? leaks? from the offices of the jurisprudence e.g. constabulary section. Of class this could besides be knocking modern-day Germany for leting such things to happen. The beginnings “ that can ne’er come together ” are the 1s that can ne’er be used in a tribunal of jurisprudence e.g. the phone conversations. The storyteller or writer uses this metaphor make the narrative flow and as a manner a stating the reader why something has to be done e.g. the rerouting of the channels since there is something the reader has to cognize that happened before and the narrative or the channel can non go on on it’s current way. In the terminal, the metaphor is used really efficaciously and the reader can see why it was necessary to believe of all the information as merely one puddle acquiring bigger and bigger. Of class the storyteller makes it really clear that he does non desire blood fluxing through these channels since the blood as nil to make with large image, the large image intending the message that he is seeking to convey.

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As said before, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum is in a constabulary study format. The tone is really formal and it is highly elaborate and logical ( stereotypically German ) . Right from the start the reader can feel a message the writer is seeking to convey. The subtitle How Violence Develops and where it can take gives the reader a sense of a trail to follow, or in this instance a channel. The narrative that takes topographic point in this novel is in the period between Wednesday, February 20 and Sunday, February 24, 1974. Around this clip is the celebratory period of Carnival. However there is no intimation of any celebratory tempers in the tone. It is all highly formal. It can be said that the format of this book is related to how Katharina Blum herself lives her life. The possible ground that this narrative is set in this constabulary study format is that Heinrich B ö ll wants the reader to cognize the facts since all the facts come together in the terminal. The narrative uses flashbacks so the reader knows what is go oning someplace else at the same clip. It could be said that the reader is happening out all this information in the same order as the constabulary probe. It seems that Thursday

e information is scattered and, merely like the constabulary, the reader has to seek and patch together the mystifier. However, this is all done for the reader in the terminal. This is another illustration of how the? puddle? metaphor is used. The information scattered means that the channel is ever altering class.

The tone of this narrative, and even the text itself says that this is a police study, but the usage of short and long chapters could perchance propose something different. In the short chapters there are small? explosions? of action, whilst in the longer chapters it goes into far more item. This is like a newspaper in a manner, the headlines with the? explosions? of action, and the pages the narrative is continued on travel into more item, nevertheless, this logical thinking is likely wrong since the writer is seeking to assail the newspaper. It is nevertheless possible that the writer is subtly seeking to demo how he thinks newspapers should be written, utilizing these short and long chapters as illustrations. The constabulary study truly starts at about chapter 11. Before this, the storyteller is giving the reader some background to the events. These first few chapters, up to the terminal of chapter 6, the narrative is set in the hereafter i.e. the Sunday. Here is yet another illustration of the? puddle? metaphor, this rerouting of channels.

The storyteller does play a important function in the novel. The storyteller has entree to the characters feelings and ideas, so the information that is found in the narrative is more than what could be found in any police study. However we do non acquire all the feelings and emotions of the characters. It is difficult to state if this is B ö ll straight speaking to the reader or he is utilizing a storyteller to show his ideas. The narrative starts off with it sounding like a storyteller reading a intelligence study. However subsequently on the storyteller is stating us how to read the book. “ Let us continue at one time from this lowest of all degrees to higher planes. Away with the blood. Let the exhilaration in the imperativeness be forgotten. “ ( Chapter 7, p41 ) . Other times where the writer intervenes are whenever the? puddle? metaphor is mentioned and in chapter 41. He uses an full chapter to either give the reader a interruption from the action or to acquire the reader to thing of something in the background to all this action, which is someway of import to the reading. “ To much is go oning in this narrative. To an embarrassing, about indocile grade, it is pregnant with action: to its disadvantage. ” ( Chapter 41, p98 ) . This chapter focuses on the phone tappers and what goes on in the? mind? of the phone tapper. The reader would ne’er hold thought of this, but possibly this? proficient? ejaculation is instead of import since the? small stopper? are beginnings for the puddle.

The construction of The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum of class does non to the full demo how Heinrich B ö ll is assailing the modern journalistic moralss and modern-day Germany, that is all in the text of the narrative. However the construction that Heinrich B ö ll has put the text in is unflawed, there can be no misunderstanding of the facts, unlike in newspaper studies. It is typically German in its manner, every individual item given, so the reader can happen out what the lost honor of Katharina Blum truly is.

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