Fatelessness Chapter 2

Title of selection: Fatelessness, Chapter 2

Author: Imre Kertész

Genre: Autobiographical Novel

Setting: Budapest 1940s, in Georg's neighbourhood

Historical context: WWII. Persecution of Jews. Air raids in Hungary. Antisemitism.

The author wrote this piece to: (author’s purpose): 
Give account of the first days of Georg's new life without his father living with them. There are lots of historical references regarding the way Jewish people were forced to live

The main idea of this piece is: 
Show Georg's transition from being a boy to a working young man

The message (or theme) of this selection which the author would like us to “take away” is: 
The author would like us to take the idea that "differentnesss" is a matter of perspective and feeling different should not bring us down.

Characters: (Major)
Protagonist(s): Georg Koves

Antagonist(s): As a symbolic antagonist, we could say it's the Nazi Regime.

Static characters: older Steiner daughter, because she doesn't understand nor changes her way of thinking. Mr. Sütô also would be a good example, as he maintains his promise of providing money and food to the family, no matter what. Georg's mom as she didn't change her point of view about going out alone.

Dynamic characters: Both Annemarie and Georg can me considered as dynamic characters as both have changes throughout this chapter.

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 is an example of an allusion: the story of a prince and a beggar that looked very similar, and once they changed their places and nobody noticed, being transformed finally into the other one. Georg tells this when they are discussing about being Jewish and all the, apparently, disadvantages it has. He tries to explain that life is almost just luck. "She had somehow been swapped or got mixed up with a child from another family(...) it would now be the other girl who would perceive the difference and of course wear the yellow star" (Page 37). In the quote, we can appreciate clearly that he's putting the Steiner's older daughter into an hypotetical case, so with this, he can demonstrate that the superficiality of people is such, that they wouldn't care as they do now, if she was Jewish (by blood), but has been swapped and raised by a, lets say, Aryan family.

What was the author’s “tone” toward the subject/person/idea he wrote about? 
The author's tone is a Matter of fact and Straight forward.

What “point of view” was this piece told from? List word clues that indicate this. 
As the whole text, from Georg's perspective. It's a quite unusual boy that doesn't appear to be able to feel. He describes what he is passing through with a peculiar tone that makes this novel unique. There's no need to quote, as the entire book is in first person, and the narrator is the same as the protagonist (Georg).

List the conflicts in this selection (internal and/or external):
As for external conflict we have Georg v/s his mother about belonging and attachment, Georg v/s Annemarie's older sister about "differentness" and a major external conflict between the whole Jewish community and the Nazi Party/Aryan race.

The internal conflict that may be found in this chapter is the dilemma that Georg has after speaking with his mother. He doesn't really know what to do, but as a good teenager, he'll probably go on what he wants and reject what his mother is telling him.