Innocence and the spa
When the novel begins, Fraulein Else is in a space that symbolizes her state of shelter and innocence. Her family has been able to keep her from the painful truth of life's suffering and injustice. The spa she attends with her aunt is a symbol for this sheltered, privileged upbringing, and when she is forced to leave her aunt behind, that symbolizes her journey into herself. Her journey out of innocence and into experience is characterized by private thoughts about sexuality, family expectations, social expectations, and justice.
The parent's crisis
The symbolic inciting incident is an indication that this novel is a bildungsroman. To save her father from his debt is a symbol pointing to her initiation to adult life, because the jail, the debt, and the seriousness of disenfranchisement are all introduced to her with the emotional weight of her most precious relationships. She desperately wants to please her parents, but the predicament might not be solvable, so that she is afflicted by anxiety and panic.
The narration technique
The book's narration is insightful. Instead of telling us about the character, this novelist chose stream-of-consciousness as the narrative mode, so that the novel can be seen as a reflection of a young girl's experience of self. The narration is a symbolic reference, therefore, to the self, inviting the reader to psychoanalyze the writing. In real life, this approach garnered the attention of famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.
Nakedness and prostitution
Else leaves the comfortable, non-judgmental atmosphere of the spa hotel to find that the world is far less appreciative of sexuality and nakedness than she had hoped. In contrast to the stark judgment she faces, she feels herself rather promiscuous, and she instantly identifies with prostitutes, because she is also hoping to get money from an old man, (a symbol for patriarchal dependence), and she must decide about her relationship to sexual purity. She decides that purity culture is a petty game that she wants no part of, but she also decides that her sexuality is to precious to sell for money. She finds a symbolic balance, choosing sexual autonomy and shamelessness, but without using sex to get money or to get ahead; this is the meaning of her symbolic nakedness when she leaves wearing only an overcoat.
Herr Von Dorsday
This man is the would-be savior of the book. He is like a Biblical kinsman-redeemer, because this young woman is not allowed to pick up a trade and work for her father's freedom, such that she depends on some man in the family who can save the day on her behalf. Her journey to obtain his help makes her consider patriarchy, because he is a powerful man with money in her family, and because she is dependent on his mercy; she finds this dynamic unhealthy and suspects it will bring her exploitation and emotional suffering.
