Every Man Dies Alone By Hanns Fallada - Essay Example

Every Man Dies Alone By Hanns Fallada The relationship between Otto and Ann Quangel grows throughoutthe novel. Since the marriage of the couple, Otto and Ann Quangel, there has been no record of disagreement until when their son, who worked for the Nazi Army was murdered. The incident brought about change in the relationship of the couple whereby Ann Quangel blamed her husband Otto for the death of their son since according to her, Otto allowed his son to be taken into the Army. This made Otto angry and he wanted to avenge to the Nazi government. Therefore, Otto came up with the idea of the postcard and had to convince Ann Quangel about the deal. Despite the fact that Ann had been angry and against the plan, she finally accepted to make and distribute the postcards. The love between the couple has grown in the course of the novel since we find Ann inquiring about whether Otto was still alive. The political activity that the engaged, which was making postcards and posting them out to the people so that they could create a resistance to the Nazi Government, helped to keep their relationship blossoming since they were close together and worked together. At the beginning of the novel, the couple gets to realize about the death of their son through a telegram which they were sent. The pain that the couple underwent made Otto to come up with an idea of rebellion. He came up with a unique plan which was the making of postcards and distributing them secretly to the people around so that he would mobilize a great resistance towards the Nazi Government in order to avenge for the murder of his son. All the people around are submissive to the Nazi Government and thus they could act as watchdogs. Otto has to be very keen of what he communicates to the neighbors around to avoid being suspected of rebellion or for the distribution of the cards. Therefore, Otto has to gauge what he talks when speaking to his neighbor, Borkhausen who often suspects him for having a negative attitude which suddenly had changed after the murder of his son, towards the Nazi Government (5). The couple began making and distributing the postcards around Berlin with hope that they would mobilize many other people to join in the resistance against the Nazi Government soon after the Nazi supporters started investing them. The investigation began after some of the Nazi supporters’ overhead the Otto speaks to Baumann, the woman who was engaged to his son before he died. Baumann was proposing of joining a certain cell which was posing resistance towards the Nazi Government (26). Otto has begun the dropping of the anti-Nazi which was perpetuated the fact that his wife, Ann Quangel, posed accusations on him because of the death of their son. This encouraged Otto to begin a resistance in his own way. They worked together with his wife in making the postcards and dropping them to Berlin. It took longer for the police to discover the criminals suspected for the act. It took about three year’s before they were discovered by Inspector Escherich who tracked them by placing flags on each location that the postcards were found (19). They were later found and taken to court where they were tried and were found guilty. The couple still cared for each other since Ann would always inquire about Otto. While in the court, Otto tries to review and reflect on their society. He starts to review about everyone around not forgetting about himself. He compares the people in the society to the wheels, nuts, and bolts of the machine who propel the machine to work on brutally. Some of the members lack decisions of their own and they just follow the direction of the system, some accept it and take advantage of the system where they find beneficial opportunities readily and thus they grab the opportunity while others are power hungry whereby they comply with the system to get leadership positions (45). There are very few people who take up their responsibilities to act upon the situation at hand. People like himself and his wife who have persevered to act as obstructions to the machines despite the high pressure the machine posses. He calls such people decent human beings. Every Man Dies Alone by Hanns Fallady is a relevant novel that has never lost its relevance for about sixty or so years. The novel majorly discuses about the life conditions of the minor people in the society during the early years. The novel also expresses the political records and the brutal times that the people in the early societies experienced. The experience of the Quangle tragic story depicts the way of survival that many societies survived during the colonial era where the colonists recruited the Africans into their army and they did not mind whether the soldiers died or survived (25). Otto and Ann Quangle learnt that their resistance was a very futile sine there was nobody who joined them to pose a resistance towards the Nazi Government. It only took some little time before they were found because the Germans were also afraid of the small issues such as their revolt and thus they took very small steps since they were paralyzed by the minor resistance. The regime did not bring any benefits, but instead it endangered the lives of other members of the society (13). The political activity of the Quangle family, which was the making and distribution of the anti-Nazi postcards cost the family a tragic incident in that the couple ended up being executed in 1943. The whole family of the Quangle ended up being killed because of their political activities that they got involved in because of the killing or rather murdering of their son in France as he was serving in the army. The incident was a prick to Otto and Ann, who received the information through a telegram concerning the death of their son. Their action of political revenge cost their live immensely (56). At the beginning of the novel, the relationship of the couple was very static and stable as they belonged to the working class. The relationship between the couple grows more stable throughout the novel, although they passed through many challenges; they still maintained the position of their relationship. Many people admire these two characters because of the maintenance of their relationship throughout the novel (33). In conclusion, the novel, Every Man Dies Alone by Hanns Fallada gives the scenario of the relationship of the couple, Otto and Ann Quangel who maintain their relationship and marriage throughout the novel and also the political activities of the couple which has affected their relationship. It is symbolic in that Otto and Ann had also to suffer their own consequences despite the fact that they were avenging to the death of their son. Their son died during his serving in the Army and they died because they wanted to avenge the death of their son. The novel also gives a true record of the events that the Nazi people underwent during the World War II. The character Otto and his family represent a couple who underwent the same thing that the character Otto underwent in the novel. Many members of the society were denied their rights and they were expected to accept even when they were oppressed. Fallada brings out the fears that the people of Nazi and he posses the opportunity for the readers to discover more that happened during the regime. The novel is thus very interesting to read and it is also enjoyable. Work Cited Fallada, Hans, and Michael Hofmann. Every Man Dies Alone. Brooklyn, N.Y: Melville House, 2009. Print. Read More