Essay Questions

What is the motivation of the bank robber to steal?

The bank robber turns out, perhaps surprisingly, to be a woman. Her marital situation has gone sour and become typical of the domestic situation characterized by incessant squabbling. The full extent of the emotional toll this circumstance is having on her family is not made clear to her until she finds a story written by her daughter. The story fictionalizes the domestic battles going on inside the home into a story about two kingdoms facing off in a winless war which can only end in mutual destruction. This realization of the devastating emotional toll the unhappy marriage is having upon her children stimulates her to give up fighting her husband over a divorce settlement. The additional consequence of giving up battling her boss, however, leaves her destitute and desperate and, facing homelessness, she makes her ill-conceived and poorly executed plan to rob a bank with no money.

What’s the deal with the rabbit?

Lennart is the name of the man who suddenly appears in the apartment wearing nothing but his underwear, socks and the head of a rabbit costume. The only thing which may be more shocking than his jarringly out of place appearance is the revelation that he is intimately connected with Anna-Lena in some way. Her husband Roger might possibly wish deep down that the intimacy of the relationship was more sexual than it actually turns out to be. He is actually an actor of sorts that Anna-Lena has been hiring to interrupt apartment showings with bizarre behavior as a means of getting the price lowered. This turns out to be a hit upon Roger’s self-esteem every bit as wounding as if the two had been lovers since it reveals that Roger’s self-confidence in his own managerial abilities has been wildly off the mark.

Why does Jim decide to let the bank robber get away?

Jim is the older police officer and father of Jack, the younger officer, who arrive on the scene to question the hostages following the bank robbery. Jim’s wife—Jack’s mother—dies prematurely and he is wracked by grief. She was a priest whose basic philosophy of life whittled down to a quote from Martin Luther: “Even if knew tomorrow the world would go to piece, I would still plant my apple tree.” Jim refers to Luther as “some guy” but the dismissive attitude belies the importance he attaches to his wife’s perspective. Knowing that the police will automatically expect the robber to be a man and knowing that there is very little to convince them to pursue an investigation otherwise plus the fundamental question of whether a bank robbery is still a bank a robbery when nothing was stolen, he takes pity on her situation. Ultimately, Jim heeds his wife’s overarching faith in the belief that when given the chance to save who you can today, you don’t worry too much about what may happen tomorrow.