Literary analisis worksheet

Title of selection: Fatelessness (Chapter 2)

Author: Imre Kértesz

Genre: Novel

Setting: Budapest, Hungary, 1940´s

Historical context: II World war, German Holocaust (antisemitism)

The author wrote this piece to(author´s purpose): Tell and inform about the aspects of George´s life after his father had left.

The main idea of this piece is: To make the readers notice the sicological aspects and changes on George that is recently a teenager, not expressing any feeling fot the situation of his father and his sort of girfriend.

The message (or theme) of this selection which the author would like us to "take away" is: I think, as I had personal dificult moments on my life, that the reaction on a male teenager is to hide his feelings and pretend to be strong enough to face it. I personally think that is the situation of George at that traumatic moment of his life.



Characters (Major Protagonist): George Koves

Antagonist: I thought about three antogonists: George´s mother, Steiner´s daughter and the Nazi regime.

Static character: The best example is Mr Suto who maintains by all the chapter his way of thinking and interests.

Dynamic characters: George Koves and Annamarie.

Did the author use any special literary devices in this selection such as: personification, metaphor, simile, foreshadowing, suspense, flashback, imagery, irony, humor, poetic sound devices such as rhyme, etc... List and give specific examples:

There are not much literary devices on the text, I will precise one that seem interesting for me
Irony: "As a result, I have acquired a privilige of sorts, (...) I may cross the Csepel customs borderline" (28) This quote is an irony precising George´s luke. When he was free he could pass any bounds of the country, now it was a privilige for him to have the autorization to pass a limit.

What was the author’s “tone” toward the subject/person/idea he wrote about? 

I think that George´s tone as the narrator is likely informal and serious. "Already two months passed since we said good-bye to father" (27)

What “point of view” was this piece told from? List word clues that indicate this. 

I think George (narrator) has a diferent way to see things as many people, for example Annamarie´s sister. He is very direct to tell things and not demostrating much feelings to the circumstances his living.

List of the conflicts in this selection (internal and/or external)

As an internal problem I think that could be the discusion between George and Annamarie´s sister and an external may be his thoughts about his mother.