Die Dimensionen der Kurzgeschichte”Steh auf, steh doch auf“ The Dimension of short story (wake, Wake) 1958 by the German writer, Heinrich Böll.

Abstract

In dieser Kurzgeschichte werden die Züge der Trümmerliteratur präzis dargestellt. Die wurde von Heinrich Böll im Jahr 1958 geschrieben. In der vorliegenden Arbeit konzentriere ich mich auf vielfältige Stoffe in Bezug auf die Lage nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. So gab ich dieser Arbeit einen besonderen Titel, der die Dimensionen dieser Kurzgeschichte heißt. Ich meine hier, die profunde Interpretation dieses Werkes, denn ich fand zwar hinter einigen Wörtern eine ganze Geschichte, die uns der Erzähler dadurch zeigen wollte.

So teilte ich diese Wörter (Grab, Schatten, Last, Schrei) als Dimensionen, von denen diese Arbeit umgekreist wird.

Diese Arbeit besteht aus vier Kapiteln, die aufeinander aufgebaut sind. Im ersten Kapitel versuchte ich möglicherweise knapp und treffend einen sinnvollen Auszug des Werkes zusammenzustellen, besonders steht im Mittelpunkt dieser Arbeit die Liebefrage, um die es dieser Kurzgeschichte geht„ Die Liebe ohne Begehren erscheint als abstrakter Schutz vor Lebensschmerzen“[1]

Im zweiten Kapitel beschäftigte ich mich mit dem Aufbau dieser Kurzgeschichte, nämlich den Stil und die Struktur der Kurzgeschichte.

Abstract

The research consists of:

The introduction deals with the theme of love which is the core of the story. The research aims at studying the four dimensions of this story:

The first dimension is the grave which is the basic motive of this story, the shadow which came from the grave, the psychological burden and the troubles of life. The last dimension is the scream: why does the narrator scream before falling on his face? He screams loudly and falls on the ground, at last he is released from this burden. At that moment ha sees the phantom of his beloved whom he was calling, wake, wake! However, at that moment it is she who calls him to wake, and he goes back to the grave of his beloved.

This chapter deals with the grammatical structure of the story and the linguistic structure and the narrator s style.

Chapter three:

The aim of the research is to analyze this short story which consists of the following four dimensions:

First dimension is the grave. The narrator stands in front of his beloved s grave and starts to describes it and the changes that happened to it such as the broken cross and cover and the disappearance of the name which is only kept  it the narrator s memory. Before weeks, this grave was like a hill, but now it is like the basin of withered and rotten flowers and branches. He also notices the disappearance of the candlesticks which he used to light when he was visiting the grave. The narrator mentions the word of theft instead of disappearance which indicates the difficulty of life after the World War II. He closes his eyes after scrutinizing his beloved s grave to ponder on his feelings and emotions. He couldn’t help crying and his face become completely wet. One cant differentiate between his tears and the drops of the rain, his tears are shed for his separation from his beloved, while the rain is shed to wash and purge the coming generations. At that moment he screams from the deepest point of his heart. However, his scream comes out as whispers between hearts calling (wake, wake!)

It is a representative image of the everlasting love; the spiritual love. He knows that his beloved has gone to the other world and there is nothing but the painful memories. His remains faithful to his beloved visiting her grave and wishing her to hear his whispers and turns them back or to wake up from her everlasting sleep to see her innocent smile, but this is couldn’t be happen because she has died.

The second dimension is the shadow. At that moment a shadow coming out of the grave frightens him that he escapes from it and ran across the graves and the ruined buildings as a result of the World War II which left fear, depressive atmosphere, and solicitude. All these gathered to make him believe that the shadow is chasing him. He suns till he loses his strength, feeling burdened by the burden.

The third dimension is burden. Man cannot get rid of this invisible and untouchable burden because it is related to him. This burden increases day after day and year after year without realizing its huge heaviness till it defeats man by many ways. Troubles, pains, sorrows and separation of the lovers are aspects of this burden which man cannot get rid of it and predict its end. Man is forced to carry it willy or nilly. His physical and spiritual burden is too heavy that he is unable to move his feet on the ground. At that moment he screams loudly and falls on his face.

The fourth dimension is the scream. He falls on his face, however, he feels happy and at ease; a sense he has never felt before. The sadness and troubles that the narrator has are connected by strong and invisible strings because they are rooted deep in his thought and his psychological status. As time flows, this burden becomes heavier than before that the strings transfer to robs. He doesn’t know how to get rid of it. However, he gets rid of it when he screams. This is a event for his psychological burden. He has been in an urgent need for such a event to get rid of the burden.

The fourth chapter is a conclusion. This short story demonstrates the loyalty of the lover to his beloved even after her death. The writer shows the features of nostalgia and the situation in Germany in the fifties.