Stasiland Literary Elements

Biographical novel

The action takes place in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall up until the year 2000.

The story is told from Anna’s point of view who recalls the events from a subjective perspective.

Tragic, violent, resentful, critic

The protagonists are the common people like Miriam and Julia who suffered under the Stasi regime and the antagonists are the Stasi who terrorized the German people.

The major conflict is between the people who wanted to live a better life and escape the Stasi and the members from the latter group who try to control the population and convince them to do what they wanted them to do.

Because the novel is a collection of individual stories, there is no climax.

When Julia reveals that she was raped after the fall of the Wall of Berlin, she foreshadows the thinks Anna will discover that took place after the fall and how they affected in a negative way the general population.

Anna meets with various character who claim life was better when the Wall still existed. The stories Anna hears from the people who were affected by the Stasi proves the opposite.

In the fourth chapter, Miriam talks about her husband and his death. In 1980, Miriam’s husband was arrested and sent to prison and in the same year, Miriam was called and told he had died, presumed because he hanged himself. Miriam notes however how her husband did not had any type of marked around his neck from the rope with which he hanged himself. Thus, Miriam alludes to the fact that sometimes, the Government simply killed those who did not agree with them and then tried to cover up their death as either accidental or suicide.

N/A

Anna lives in a Germany that tried to rebuild itself after the end of the Second World War and after being dominated by the Communists. Anna believed they would be more than happy to express their freedoms and to make sure that they never go back to the way they were treated before. However, Anna soon realizes that in many ways, the German society did not changed at all. She notes how many still obey the same rules they did before and how the handicapped are still required to wear a distinctive band around their arms, just how the Jews were expected to do the same in the past. For Anna, this is paradoxical because it shows how the people were reluctant to change even though they had the opportunity to do it.

In the second chapter, Anna receives a letter from a viewer, asking for information about the Stasi and how they influenced people’s lives. Anna’s superior is reluctant to allow Anna to give such information, claiming that they will bring no good to the people. The person who wrote the letter insists once more he needs the information and draws a parallel between Germany after the fall of the Wall of Berlin and Germany before the Second World War. The reader claims that in both cases, Germany tried to hide away certain things about their country and unfortunately for them, it did not work in their advantage as it only led to problems and tragic events.

N/A

In the fourth chapter, "that terrible light."