Genre
Fiction; political fiction
Setting and Context
Berlin, Germany, early 1930s at the start of Hitler's regime.
Narrator and Point of View
Sanna is the narrator and she tells the story from her own point of view.
Tone and Mood
Frightening, ominous, murderous, fearful, hopeless, confused.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Sanna is the protagonist. Hitler is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
There is conflict between Hitler's supporters and those of different ideological opinions to him.
Climax
The man on the bicycle is led away by S.S. officers, never to be seen again, whilst previously neighborly onlookers do nothing to help him.
Foreshadowing
The man on the bicycle foreshadows his own execution by expressing anti-Hitler sentiment.
Understatement
The crowd is large at the parade, which understates the almost mass hysteria that is starting to ensue as people fight for the best viewpoints.
Allusions
The novel alludes to the propaganda machine utilized by Hitler and it's method of indoctrinating the people by only ever giving Hitler's ideologies, never any other.
Imagery
The author describes the intensity of the crowd building at the parade and enables the reader to feel the intensity for ourself.
Paradox
Sanna knows that in order to appear not to be a dissident she must keep her views to herself, but she does not realize that her friends are also viewed as dissidents and spending time with them is going to be just as much of a threat to her life as is her own opinion and view.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the act of questioning Hitler's ideologies and actions and the likelihood of death or of "disappearing".
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The SS is the way in which the author describes individual German soldiers and guards.
Personification
N/A
