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Text Response- Stasiland Character Summary
English (ESL)
4 Found helpful • 3 Pages • Topic Notes • Year: Pre-2021
Characters (RED- QUOTE)(BLUE- FUNDER’S REACTION, THOUGHTS) 1. Anna Funder - Personally leads the reader on their journey of exploration into Stasiland and also chooses to reveal information about herself - Her role as narrator also allows the reader to know how she feels- to see events and people from her point of view - Sheds tears as she talks to Miriam, Julia and Frau Paul - Feels uncomfortable with Herr Bock, feels some sympathy for Herr Bohnsack, and does not like von Schnitzler - Reacts to the physical environments of the places she visits - Her obvious curiosity, detailed descriptions, and point of view towards the people she meets, engage the reader - Her control of her reader is why we should never forget that she is as much a part of Stasiland as other characters 2. Miriam Weber - Deliberately lives in an apartment that makes her feel secure: ‘From here you could see anyone coming’ - Funder captures the juxtaposition between her slight, fragile body and big voice: ‘… it fills the room, and it wraps us up’ - Became an enemy of the state at age 16 - The consequences of her homemade leaflet distribution, forcing the daring escape attempt over the Wall - Her story of her drastic attempt to leave the GDR is full of tension and angst as she comes so close to succeeding - Still has the scars from the barbed wire fence on her hands today - Managed to get past a guard dog that fails in its duty to attack her - Her experience in prison of undergoing sleep deprivation torture are harrowing - One cannot help but admire her desperate creativity in concocting a story purely to get some sleep - Her subsequent 18 month prison sentence forever changes the way she sees the world: ‘When I got out of prison, I was basically no longer human’ - Funder captures the pain in Miriam’s voice as she recalls the dehumanizing and claustrophobic prison experience that left her psychologically wounded her life - Charlie Weber gave new meaning to her life even though the Stasi regularly harassed both - His death in Stasi custody shattered Miriam, her grief and anger driving her desire to find out the truth behind both his death and absurd funeral. - Places hope that the puzzle women will find evidence to explain Charlie’s death - Personality: doesn’t return phone calls, respond to Funder’s letters, seemingly disappearing for a period of time, although always on Funder’s mind - Last chapters: we learn she has started to let go of her urgency to discover the truth behind Charlie’s death - Frustrated by her dealings with the German authorities - Funder’s final description of Miriam provides a contrast to the fragile woman she first met: ‘Miriam walks ‘straight backed into the sunlight’, Funder hoping that ‘for now (her) beasts are all in their cages’
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