Essay Questions

What is the significance of the novel’s title?

The titular Torless, despite not having both feet rooted firmly on the ground, is actually a genius and the novel’s title is partially a reference to the protagonist’s tendency to overthink and over-analyze situations to the point of passivity. It is also a reference to the protagonist’s moral-social-philosophical quandary that plagues him through most of the narrative. He ponders the nature of evil and criminality and how an apparently “normal person” can engage in and even enjoy or eagerly anticipate participating in the degradation of another human being.

What does Basini symbolize in the novel?

Basini is more than just a rape victim. The continuous abuses he suffers at the hands of Beineberg, Reiting, and Torless are a metaphor for injustice that many marginalized members of society endure. Basini is poor and physically inferior to the juvenile thugs that violate him. He has no social connections that would defend him and he simply hasn’t the strength to fight off his abusers. In the end, Basini is forced to admit his crimes and is expelled from school. His molesters however do not so much as get a slap on the wrist for their horrid mistreatment of him.

Why does Basini refuse do defend himself against the abuse he receives?

There are two plausible explanations for Basini’s passivity in the face of abuse. First, it is quite obvious that Basini is a truly cowardly, truly tractable person who cannot and would not lift a finger to protect himself. Second, it would seem that Basini, like the sexually conflicted Torless, is gay, and takes great pleasure in what is being done to him, so much so that rather than report the abuse to the authorities he willingly participates in pleasuring his tormentors sexually.