The History of the Novel the Good Soldier - Essay Example

The conversation between Mrs Muller and Svejk ends with Svejk quipping that he prefers a fat emperor to a thin one. Svjek receives the news of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination with abundant charm and sarcasm.

At the local bar, Svejk finds Bretschneider, a plainclothes state officer trying to engage Palivec the landlord in conversation about the assassination to no avail (Hasek 7). Mr Palivec fears that conversing about political matters would lead to his incarceration to which Bretschneider becomes highly disappointed. When Svejk arrives at the bar, Bretschneider is happy since he can converses about the assassination with him. The state officer aimed to catch both Palivec and Svejk expressing anti-Austrian sentiments by engaging them in conversation about the assassination of the emperor Ferdinand. Svejk engages himself in the careless talk about the emperor with Bretschneider while consuming alcohol. While talking about the assassination, Svejk makes sensitive remarks about the assassination and for this, he gets arrested by Bretschneider and taken to the police station (Hasek 15). In their conversation, Bertschreiner had taken offence to Svjek comparing the assassinated emperor to a cattle dealer. The state officer also arrests Palivec whom he claims had said that flies had left their trademark on the emperor. Svejk’s incarceration turns out to be the start of his involvement in the war. On arrival at the station, Svejk jokingly tells the officer that they had a fabulous time at the pub together and asks him if he visits the pub often. This part of the novel indicates the spying nature at the time.

At the station, Svejk gets thrown into a cell alongside Palivec who in all honesty can be said to have been innocent. The cell is also confinement for other innocent members who are victims of the hysteria created by the war (Hasek 20). Svjek jokes that they are better off in the cell than in the outside world of torture. At the station, Svjek gets examined by a medical commission team which concludes that he is mental and for this case, Svjek gets sent to a mental institution. Svjek seems to enjoy his time in public institutions. At the mental institution, he gets examined again by two doctors (Hasek 24). This time around, the doctors conclude that Svjek is feigning mental illness to escape military service as a malingerer. Upon this discovery, Svjek gets thrown out of the mental institution despite his stern protests against the move.