Essay Questions

How does the imprisonment of Else’s father affect her life? Explain.

Else receives word of her father’s imprisonment while at her aunt’s place. While she is having a great time at the spa with her aunt, Else receives the message of her father’s imprisonment following a huge debt of 30 000 guldens. As a result, Else has to interrupt her stay at her aunt’s place and look for a way to pay off her father’s debt. Being a teenager, the decision to help pay her father’s debt becomes a major responsibility for Else as she hers to step into the cruel world of adulthood while at that tender age. Her father’s imprisonment thus becomes a redefining point in Else’s life.

How is the role and importance of family emphasized in Fraulein Else?

The important role that family plays in one’s life is brought out and emphasized in this novel through the character Else. After she receives the news that her father has been imprisoned following his inability to pay off a debt, Else decides to help him out by taking on the debt repayment responsibility. In this way, Else exhibits the trait of kindness towards her father who is also a member of her family. Because Else comes to her father’s aid when he is in trouble, an argument in the line of this being the writer’s attempt of emphasizing the important role of the family is justifiable.

Highlight the character of Miss Else as brought out in this work.

Miss Else exhibits a great deal of kindness and familial love in this work. For instance, she takes on herself the responsibility of paying her father’s debt seeing as he would be unable to pay it off while in prison. Additionally, she can be argued as a responsible individual. Else is also a decisive person, when she has to decide to either sell herself or not, she decides not to do that, an action that also paints her out as an individual of exceptional morals.