Genre
A play
Language
German
Setting and Context
The events of the story take place in Mukden, China.
Narrator and Point of View
The play is written from the third-person point of view. It is either that of the four agitators or the controlling chorus.
Tone and Mood
The tone is thoughtful while the mood is gloomy.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The young comrade is the protagonist of the play. It is possible to assume that the four agitators are the antagonists, but the controlling chorus doesn’t condemn their actions.
Major Conflict
Idealism vs. reality
Climax
The young comrade’s murder is the climax of the play.
Foreshadowing
Four agitators: Stop! We have something to say. We announce the death of a comrade.
Control Chorus: Who killed him?
Four agitators: We killed him. We shot him and threw him into a lime pit.
The dialogue is an instance of foreshadowing for further "unhappy" events.
Understatement
“It is a fearsome thing to kill. But we will kill ourselves and not just others if necessary.”
The four agitators clearly don’t know the value of a human life.
Allusions
The story alludes to “The ABC of Communism” by Nikolai Bukharin.
Imagery
Images of poverty with inordinately hard work and of terrible conditions of life are depicted in the play
Paradox
“From you, however, we are to demand an automobile and a guide.”
The paradox is that the four agitators know that there isn’t any automobile, but still demand it.
Parallelism
N/A
Personification
“The lime had devoured him”
Use of Dramatic Devices
N/A
