SECTIONS 1 AND 2 (pp. 157-66)
Focus on: herd instinct
INTERPET THE TELLING DETAIL . . .
'individually we have no power or courage, but together we
form a glowing mass' (p. 160). How does this passing comment about Unverdorben
as a young man give the key to his later actions?
Focus on: qualified pastoral
PICK OUT THE DETAILS . . .
The account of Unverdorben and Herta's courtship has a
nostalgic atmosphere: partly because we know how he will degenerate afterwards,
and partly because it draws on images of pastoral innocence. But the idyllic
picture is complicated by the fact that Nazi ideology appealed to this
nostalgia, this illusion of the purity of nature. What details in this apparently
harmonious picture sound a dissonant note?
Focus on: impotence and power
ASSESS . . .
In what
ways does this section (especially pp. 161-6) suggest that Unverdorben's
actions as an older man can largely be explained by his sense of sexual
frustration, impotence and loneliness as a young man?
Focus on: the mother figure
CONSIDER ...
Unverdorben's life has been full of lovers; the passage on
pp. 165-6 offers the first explicit mention of his mother. What does this
glimpse add to your understanding of Unverdorben?
