The Carnival (motif)
Notwithstanding festive spirit of the Carnival, it doesn’t contradict horrifying events which take place in the story. On the contrary, the celebration is a perfect background for the unfolding tragedy. The costumed crowds fill streets of a city, making it look like a theater or a process of filmmaking. The personal embarrassment of the protagonist either boosts joyfulness of the crowds or leaves them indifferent. It is impossible not to “join in”; even if one doesn’t take part in the celebration, he/she can always become a prey whose suffering would entertain the crowd. As one of the Carnival officials states, “he was relieved’’ that two deaths had happened before the festive season. It is surreal that someone has to plan a murder, while others prepare their costumes.
Red (symbol)
Red is a special color. Its richness and brightness are often compared to blood or even a life itself. The narrator encourages a reader not to be fixated only on blood, but to pay attention “to a certain color effect” and mentions that “a lot of blood on a lot of white” creates “modern painting or stage effects”. Red is not only a symbol of blood. It is also a color of the Communist Party which is rather unpopular with the News and the society which is described in the story. If one gets a nickname the Red, it presages rather nasty problems for him/her. The protagonist and some of her friends who are accused of being “Red” and even named as “a Communist bitch”, prove that it might be rather dangerous to get a red mark.
Stalin (allegory)
Initially the protagonist is accused of hiding an outlaw and helping him to escape. Later the journalists from the News manage to convey the readers that Katharina Blum is also a communist who despises norms and beliefs of the society she lives in. This leads to Katharina’s bullying. The anonymous notes she receives, states “Where Stalin failed, you will fail too”. Stalin is an allegory of cruelty and soullessness. Comparing her with Stalin, they try to show how mercilessly she destroys lives of others.
