Essay Plan

The past traps me in myself

1. Oscar’s Quest
• Event: Finding of the key in the vase. Wants to find more about his father. “The Quest”
o Motif: the Key
• Leads into the Theme -> The past traps me in myself. Cannot forget about his father, the stories at night, and the phone calls.
o Occurs until the end of the story, when his mother told him about the phone call before the buildings collapsed.
2. Grandfather’s Tragedy
• Event: bombing of Dresden 1944
o Motif: What time is it?
• Again, leads into Theme -> The past traps me in myself. He is outside of time as we understand it. He is trapped in the past.
o Captured in 1944, in Dresden at the time when he lost Anna, the sister of his wife. Anna is like a ghost, who follows Thomas Sr. He can’t detach from her.
3. Grandmother’s story
• Event: Vanishing of her husband after she got pregnant and death of her sister.
o Motif: Unable to communicate
• Leads into Theme -> The past traps me in myself. She is the only unique person, because he is able to forget the past. She tries to start a normal life, by forgetting German for example. Does not want Thomas Sr back.
o Is also connected to Anna, tries to remember the good times with her. Same idea of a ghost, but in a positive way for grandmother.