Essay Questions

What are the consequences of sleep deprivation?

One of the first people to tell her story is Miriam, a woman who in 1968, when she was just a teenager, was arrested and put into solitary confinement. Miriam managed to escape but was arrested again soon after and she was put in solitary confinement and tortured with sleep deprivation. In comparison with other forms of torture, sleep deprivation is not harmful to the body but rather to the mind. When a person is sleep deprived for more than a few days, the mind starts to deteriorate slowly and the person in question may end up having hallucinations and being more susceptible to accept and lie to be left alone to sleep. In extreme cases, the person in question may even die because of the lack of sleep or suffer serious health problems and damages to the heart as a result. Thus, in these conditions, it is no wonder Miriam caved in and lied just to be left alone.

Who were the Stasi?

The novel focuses on a group called the Stasi that existed in Germany when the Berlin Wall existed. The Stasi or ‘’The Ministry for State Security’’ was formed in 1950 and was a secret police that operated in East Germany. The Stasi was created with the role of surveying the German citizens and stooping any type of movement that could be dangerous for the Government. The Stasi was created only after the Soviet Union took control over East Germany and many similarities can be found between the way the Stasi used to operate and the KGB operated. The Stasi had countless informants who were once civilians and they had the purpose of transmitting any type of information they deemed of interest. It is estimated that at the end of its existence, Stasi had more than 97.000 people working for them.

What is the difference between socialism and communism?

The two terms appear in the book and at a first glance, it appears as if the two are the same. While there are similarities between the two beliefs, there are also many differences. Both movements oppose capitalism but it is important to note that socialism already existed at the time when communism became a real movement. Socialists want to achieve universal health care, free education and universal pensions. The countries who are socialist still maintain a degree of democracy and their members can be part of various political parties. Socialist countries also tolerate other political parties even if they have different political views and are not draconian in imposing their ideals. In comparison with the socialist ideal, the communist one is much stricter.

While in socialism some type of economical hierarchy still exists, communism, wants to make every citizen equal to another and eliminate the wealthy class. In communist countries, other political parties with opposite beliefs do not exist and in this sense, the communist countries are seen as being totalitarian and not democratic. While nowadays the examples of totalitarian communist countries are scarce, in the past, many European countries were controlled by Communist parties who imposed their beliefs and did not shy away from eliminating their political opponents.