6. MULTIPLY ZERO BY ZERO AND YOU STILL GET ZERO
SECTION 1 (pp. 146-52)
Focus on:
character
APPRAISE ...
— What impressions do you form of
Unverdorben's life before 1942 from this section? Do any details surprise you?
Which details help to explain his subsequent behaviour? In what ways does this
portrait humanise him?
Focus on:
memory
EXAMINE AND
CONNECT . . .
— Read the episode on pp. 149-51
describing how Unverdorben discovered thirty Jewish 'souls' hiding, because a
baby's cries gave them away. Which previous moments in the novel does this
episode help to explain? Review the allusion on p. 101: what new significance
does the phrase, 'the mortal importance of no one knowing they are there' take
on in the light of this episode? Look again at p. 135: 'the physical power that
the bomb baby exerted, over its parents and over every-body else in the black
room: some thirty souls.' Given that the explosive effect of the baby's cries
was to betray them to Unverdorben, why does he dream about it so obsessively
and threateningly? Remember that he has a child himself soon after-wards.
Focus on:
'time's arrow'
INTERPRET'THE
SYMBOL . . .
The metaphor of time's arrow
takes on a new significance on p. 151. Interpret what meanings it takes on
here.
SECTION 2 (pp. 153-6.)
Focus on:
despair
CONSIDER THE
CLAIM ...
Unverdorben's soul regards him as a 'ruined god, betrayed
and beaten by his own magic', and says that Unverdorben is 'on his own' (p.
156). We have seen the consequences of Unverdorben's soul dissociating from him
at this moment. Consider the claim that Unverdorben's soul is portrayed as
powerless, delirious and obtuse.
