46 pages • 1 hour read
A Night Divided
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Themes
Bravery in the Face of Oppression
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses torture and police brutality.
Gerta does not set out to be brave. She doesn’t necessarily think her father is brave, either, as she views his rebellion as dangerous. Yet she doesn’t understand just how dire the circumstances are for her family. Once she learns about the realities of East Germany, she equates bravery with taking principled risks and following one’s beliefs no matter the consequences. The novel conveys that bravery means fighting oppression with full knowledge of the potential cost.
Nielsen uses the relationship between Gerta and Fritz to develop the novel’s commentary on bravery. Fritz, at first, is more open to risk, while Gerta is willing to take a risk only if the odds are favorable. However, Fritz tells her, “Courage isn’t knowing you can do something; it’s only being willing to try” (36). This statement frames their actions for the rest of the novel, as they face mounting risks while planning their escape. The fact that their bravery does not only help the two of them but their whole family and two other families conveys that taking principled risks pays off and helps others.
While Officer Muller and, in a more complicated sense, Anna have antagonistic roles in the text, Nielsen conveys their ultimate bravery through their willingness to take a principled risk. Muller, who ultimately sacrifices his life to save Gerta and help her get to freedom, spends much of the novel threatening Gerta and Fritz. In the end, however, Muller dies for others’ freedom. Anna is initially unwilling to risk her family’s safety and instead shows loyalty to the East German regime. However, Nielsen uses her change of heart to convey that bravery means eschewing certain safety in an oppressive system in favor of uncertain hope.
Gerta’s mother is another character whose bravery is conveyed through a change of heart near the novel’s end. While stoicism is her survival mechanism throughout the novel, she reaches a breaking point when Officer Viktor searches her house. Like Gerta, Fritz, Muller, and Anna, she finally sees it is better to take a risk than be oppressed, as she offers Viktor her car keys with no certainty he will take the bribe. Her character arc reinforces the idea that bravery involves standing up for your beliefs while knowing that it may cost your life.
The Power of Propaganda
School and the Pioneer Camp teach Gerta that the West is corrupt, materialistic, and selfish. From the moment the wall is built in Chapter 1, Nielsen highlights that support for or resistance to the division of Germany is largely a question of the narratives that East German residents tell each other. The slow quieting of resistance at the beginning of the novel highlights one of the novel’s main messages: Propaganda has the power to change people’s minds and make them accept ideas.
One of the first changes in Gerta’s life is what she is taught at school; right after the wall goes up, she and her classmates learn “a new song that thanked our leaders for building a wall” (15). Through this song, the teachers attempt to reframe the wall as something protective, like a fortress, instead of something divisive. Nielsen conveys this propaganda through a child’s eyes to highlight its power when fed to young and impressionable minds. While Gerta realizes that she is being fed a line, many East German characters believe the propaganda. Even Gerta’s mother, for much of the first half of the book, believes that the State knows best, thereby showing how effective East German propaganda can be.
While the novel conveys East German propaganda as oppressive, it also alludes to Western propaganda, seen in the form of soft power instead of explicit indoctrination and coercion. It includes food and drink, music, and clothes, which shape Gerta and Fritz’s preference for West Germany. While Gerta and Fritz do not see themselves as followers, they obsess over The Beatles, one of the most popular contemporary bands in the world, and mass-produced Western fashion, suggesting that Western messaging promises them a sense of individuality and freedom. Cola, in particular, becomes a symbol of Western propaganda. Fritz tells Gerta that, if she drinks branded Coca-Cola, she’ll “never want our cola again” (30). While this conveys the lack of pleasure and sustenance provided by the limited food in East Germany, it also suggests that Coca-Cola is a form of propaganda for Western capitalist ideology, promising pleasure to those who drink it and prompting resistance to Eastern products. The reference to “our cola” also suggests that East Germany is attempting to produce something akin to Coca-Cola, representing the battle of Eastern and Western ideology along the grounds of propaganda.
The Necessity of Freedom of Speech
The East German state knows that propaganda has limitations and is not enough to ensure its citizens are obedient. It therefore limits freedom of speech to ensure that those who don’t believe the propaganda cannot express their views. The quashing of freedom of speech causes pain and suffering for many characters, and Nielsen hence conveys that freedom of speech is necessary for a high quality of life.
One of the clearest threats to freedom of speech is the bugging of Gerta’s home. Bugging ratchets up the state of fear and paranoia among citizens of East Berlin, in the hopes that such constant surveillance will both allow the government to detect dissidents and prevent people from speaking against the State. This bugging causes Gerta, Fritz, and their mother anguish, and Gerta observes, “I wanted a home without hidden microphones, and friends and neighbors I could talk to without wondering if they would report me to the secret police” (125). Her hopes suggest that freedom of speech not only allows people to live happier domestic lives but is also conducive to better relationships and stronger communities. Nielsen reinforces this when Gerta and Fritz “dedicate the day to pleasing […] hidden microphones” (165), suggesting the futility of life when freedom of speech is threatened.
Herr Krause’s printing press is a peripheral yet critical example of the way threats to freedom of speech cause suffering. Gerta is appalled by the treatment of Herr Krause, who runs a secret printing press in his home. At first, Gerta cannot understand why the secret police care about a man printing messages with a child stamp set. However, the more she works on the tunnel, the more Gerta appreciates the importance of speaking one’s mind and feeling safe expressing personal thoughts aloud or in writing. The fact that Herr Krause cries out in physical and emotional pain and eventually is murdered by the state suggests that freedom of speech is essential for quality of life.
The printing press, the notes that Gerta and Fritz pass at home, and the music they listen to are all examples of characters attempting to retain freedom of speech. The Beatles record that Fritz enjoys represents his sense of free speech. While Gerta enjoys the melody, Fritz enjoys the words, observing that “the things they write could not be played here” (35). He states that it’s not just that the record is a symbol of the West but that the music allows him to think about life and living in a way that he hasn’t before. The record, then, is a path to mental liberty for Fritz, something the East German government wants and needs to suppress.
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By Jennifer A. Nielsen
