Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
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In the early 1970's of Germany, Heinrich Boll witnessed events of injustice where powerful institutions such as the press, law and the police abused their power. These institutions that held power in the German hegemonic society disadvantaged those that were classed of lower hierarchy. Boll's distaste is expressed through his novella The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, published not long after these events, and recounts of a story where the female protagonist Katharina Blum is a victim of these institutions in a hegemonic society. Contemporary readers who are not exposed to such a strong hegemonic society as demonstrated in the text are encouraged to disapprove of the hegemony and empathise with the female protagonist who is marginalised by her social status. Use of language, characterisation, juxtaposition and other techniques are used in achieving this.
The narrator plays an important role in the text as he/she is the medium through which events are told to the readers. As much as the narrator attempts to appear objective, the reports are still imbued with his/her perspectives of matters. According to Symington, "Boll's works in which the serious import of the content is marred by both stylistic and structural deficiencies." The narrator's style of reporting is clear and concise in contrast to the News tabloid where rhetorical questions are used in stirring curiosity among their readers. Accuracy is noted where the narrator pedantically brings attention to certain distinction of words like "allegedly" and "claimed" even formatting it in italics...