The Agent of Social Change:
Antiestablishment Metaphor in Patricio Pron’s Ideas
Christopher Grapes
Intermediate Expository
Composition 201
Leslie Jewkes
Abstract
Patricio Pron, in his short story “Ideas”,
writes of a mysterious youth named Peter who exerts a strange influence over
the children of the small East German town of Sterberode, leading them away
into the night with no reason or explanation. The adults of the town search for
the children, expressing concern and eventually fear and denial over the
seemingly supernatural powers of Peter. By placing the story under a
hermeneutic lens and overlaying Pron’s own history and influences, we can
examine the tale as a harsh critique of oppressive government control and an
investigation into subversive propaganda and social disorder.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” – President Reagan
Argentinian Patricio Pron’s short
story “Ideas” is a tale about the mysterious disappearance and subsequent reappearance
of children from the fictional East German town of Sterberode, during the
1980s. The main character, a child named Peter Möhlendorf, appears to lure the
other children away by means unknown, leaving the adults of the village in fear
and confusion until they eventually return, unscathed and unharmed. The surface
tale appears a relatively benign mystery about the events, but the tale also
represents a powerful metaphor for Pron’s experiences and knowledge of the
collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Reunification of Germany.
The Germany of the 1980s was
divided, following the conclusion of World War Two. Though it was initially
split into four distinct sectors, ideologically the country was split between
Western (comprising of Britain, America and France) and Eastern (Soviet Union)
blocs. During the last few years of its division, East Germany saw numerous
uprisings and increased political disorder as the government attempted to
stranglehold the population, censoring subversive literature and arresting
writers and journalists who questioned the regime and demanded reform. “Ideas”
is set within this timeframe in East Germany.
Pron himself was born in Argentina 1975,
and spent most of his childhood there. Though a country not necessarily
associated with the European Soviet blocs, Argentina was a country in its own
social disorder – during the 1970s the National Reorganization Process saw a
military dictatorship seize the country, and proceed to eliminate, whether
through deportation or other means, any who opposed the ideology of the newly
established government. In the 1990s, Pron moved to Germany, studying
literature at the University of Göttingen. Though this move occurred after the
fall of the Berlin Wall, the country was still struggling with reunification,
and Pron's experiences with Argentina's own recovery from the oppressive
government would have made him highly sensitive to political turmoil, possibly more
so than ordinary citizens who lived before and during Reunification. Oliver
Hartwich, living in West Germany at the time of
the fall, identified that "if you had asked the West Germans before
1989 about the chances of re-unification, the older ones would have told you
that it was not going to happen in their lifetime. The younger ones would not even
have understood the question"(9). The influence upon Pron of these periods
of social upheaval is undeniable within his texts, especially within his views
of politics and government.
The government as presented in the
story is a mostly ineffective force. The narrator consistently references them
as "the so-called Democratic Republic of Germany". Their place in the
story mostly comes from their failures - the failure to build a highway and the
failure to locate the missing children (the only direct government involvement
comes in the searches, where nameless and faceless members of the Volkspolizei
and Volksarmee (respectively the police and armed forces of East Germany)
search fruitlessly and without comment). The narrator notes that "the
management of ruins is the only thing that government really seemed to have
devoted itself to"(Eggers 317). Though referencing a medieval wall the
government leveled in preparation of highway construction, one could also take
this as an oblique reference to the Berlin Wall itself - the government so
possessed with managing and controlling the wall, little else actually matters
to them. Indeed, several commentators have noted that the Berlin Wall is itself
“the most important icon of the Cold War, and the fall […] remains the best
known marker of its end”(Schaefer 506). In effect, its literal breakup serves
as a potent metaphor for the ideological breakup of the Soviet Union.
Adults in the story are
introduced by their profession – most seem to be relatively core jobs, essential
for the basic running of a rural Soviet bloc – farmers, teachers and
maintenance (electrician, tailor, etc) – whereas children are introduced
entirely by their ages. Of course, we would not expect children to possess
jobs, but considering the children are representative of the rebelling faction
(also perhaps a tie-in with adolescent rebellion in itself?), perhaps this is
intentional that they are described as such. The adults are not represented as
particularly intelligent in themselves – though they are educated in their
profession, they seem to possess little imagination or desire for knowledge –
though they search for the children, they never seem to express any concern as
to why they disappeared.
The events of Peter’s
disappearance and, later, the children’s disappearance and return are presented
matter-of-factly. After the children return, the parents do not further
question the event, aside from brief musings on the fleeting nature of
childhood. The hermeneutic interpretations of these events are broad and
meaningful. Considering the time frame, and the consistent references to the
government of East Germany, one could take the event as a metaphor for the socialist government, and the
eventual downfall and reunification of the country. Peter convincing the other
children to join “his side” could be representative of social disorder – Peter
is “recruiting” children to distance themselves from Sterberode (ostensibly
representative of East and West Germany– examine
the line “The woods are on the outskirts of Sterberode and continue until they
are silhouetted against the Harz mountain range, diving the region in two”
(Eggers 318), a clear reference to the division of Germany).
One
interesting influence for Pron comes from German folktales – Peter’s influence
over the children is strikingly similar to the famous tale of the Pied Piper of
Hamelin. The folktale concerns the eponymous piper, who possesses a remarkable
ability to lure rats with his pipe. The city government hires him to rid the
town of vermin, but rebuke him once he comes to collect payment. He seeks
revenge on the government by changing his tune to one that lures children
instead, leading them from the town and taking them into a mountain, where they
are never heard from again. The comparisons are obvious – Peter is the Piper,
luring children to his rebellion following dissatisfaction with an uncaring
government. Bertolt Brecht argues that the tale of the Pied Piper can also be
used as an analogy for social criticism, demonstrating that the Piper wants to
“rescue them from the city, that the children could have a better place to grow
up” (Wilkening). This creates a particularly intricate layer in Pron’s own
story – both can be considered metaphors for antiestablishment against an
oppressive government.
Under such tightly controlled
regimes, subversive underground literature is often the focal point for antiestablishment
movements. During the communist regime of the Soviet Union, subversive
literature like this became known as samizdat – literally translated as
“self-publishing”. Because of intense government censorship of printed
materials, these underground works of literature were often highly political in
nature, whether fiction, poetry or non-fictional essays. The state controlled
all forms of media, and this was often the only way to spread opinions or
criticism of the government. As such, to avoid detection, this type of
literature relied heavily on hermeneutics to get the message across – what
could be on the surface a benign and mostly harmless tale of peasantry could,
when viewed from the right mindset, be a powerful antiestablishment message. To
that end, the subversive literature of Pron’s childhood ostensibly influenced
him, layering his own works with such almost subliminal messaging.
The striking similarities between
Peter’s tale and the Pied Piper could even be compared at the samizdat level
too – by the late 70s the persecution of samizdat writers was not as ferocious
as it was during the height of the Soviet government. Original writers of the
material were still subject to arrest and punishment, but retypers of the
material were left alone. Toker surmises that “from the point of view of the
authorities, [retyping] may have helped to keep urban intelligentsia busy and
out of mischief” (741). Could this be what Pron is doing? Retyping the story of
the Pied Piper as a demonstration of legitimate (ie – government approved) samizdat?
At the height of the Cold War, in
comparison, samizdat was punishable to extremes. Possessing it became a crime –
even knowing of it could lead to arrest. This helped to foster a level of
willful ignorance for many citizens, pretending such literature didn’t exist,
even when presented with it at face value. When Peter Möhlendorf turns around
and smiles at the narrator, he expresses disbelief, denying that Peter himself
(and thus, subversive antiestablishment movements) even existed:
I
couldn’t see his face because he was in the shadows, and yet I think I
remember—but it could just have been an illusion—that he smiled and that his
smile didn’t explain anything, not a thing. (Eggers 321)
More
clues to Peter representing a metaphor for literature can be found in the
narrator's growing concerns about Peter's abilities - his "growing influence with the rest of
the children, his ability to vanish in a small town in a relatively accessible
region [...] and his ability to go without food and shelter" (Eggers 320).
An ability to survive without food and shelter could be a subtle note to the
decentralized nature of subversive literature - often consisting of a group
effort with no explicit author, editor or publisher mentioned. To this end, Peter
himself is an agent of social change – he is the embodiment of the
antiestablishment literature of Pron’s youth, literature that, as a student and
eventually teacher, he would have almost certainly come across himself.
In a 2010 interview, Pron identified
a key element in the hermeneutical impact of his work. Questioned on whether he
was writing autobiographically, he stated "Not exactly in its plot, which
is imaginary, but yes with regard to the narrator’s opinions about literature,
and to the question that permeates the entire story of why and from where the
young writers [...] come from"(Post). By the deeper meaning inherent in
Ideas, from the idea of Peter as samizdat to the overarching themes of
rebellion and social disorder, it can be concluded that, unlike the narrator,
Peter’s smile was not just an illusion for Pron.
Works Cited
Eggers, Dave. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010.
Boston: Mariner Books, 2010. Print.
Hartwich, Oliver Marc.
"After The Wall: 20 Years On." Policy
25.4 (2009): 8-11. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
Post, Chad W. "Patricio
Pron." Three Percent. University
of Rochester, 06 Dec. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2012.
Schaefer, Sagi. "Hidden
Behind The Wall: West German State Building And The Emergence Of The Iron
Curtain." Central European History (Cambridge University Press / UK) 44.3
(2011): 506-535. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 17 Nov. 2012.
Toker, Leona. "Samizdat And
The Problem Of Authorial Control: The Case Of Varlam Shalamov." Poetics Today 29.4 (2008): 735-758. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov.
2012.
Wilkening, Christoph. "The
Pied Piper Of Hamelin." World &
I 15.8 (2000): 178. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.
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The Problem Of Authorial Control: The Case Of Varlam Shalamov." Poetics Today 29.4 (2008): 735-758. Academic Search Complete. Web.
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Pied Piper Of Hamelin." World &
I 15.8 (2000): 178. MasterFILE
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