Genre
Nonfiction
Setting and Context
Set in the 20th century in the context of emigrants’ experiences
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Sad, traumatic, horrifying, pessimistic
Protagonist and Antagonist
The central character is Winfried Georg Sebald.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that the Nazi regime was determined to eliminate all the Jews from Germany.
Climax
The climax is when Paul Bereyter is considered a Jew enough and given a chance to serve in a Nazi Army despite being a quarter Jewish.
Foreshadowing
Selwyn's detachment from home and the inability to adapt to England's way of life foreshadowed his suicide.
Understatement
Depression is understated in the text. Bereyter and Selwyn kill themselves because they cannot accept their reality.
Allusions
The story alludes to the challenges that emigrants go through in foreign countries.
Imagery
Holocaust is one of the most dominant imagery used by the author. For instance, the author creates images of the suffering that the Jews go through under the brutal rule of the Nazi regime.
Paradox
The main paradox is that Bereyter commits suicide after having a successful career in the Nazi army.
Parallelism
The expectations of emigrants in foreign countries parallel the reality on the ground.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The Nazi regime is personified as brutal.
