The Safety Net: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Safety Net: Analysis of Major Characters" explores a complex web of relationships and conflicts among various characters in a contemporary narrative set against a backdrop of political and personal turmoil. Central to the story is Fritz Tolm, a wealthy newspaper owner thrust into the spotlight as the president of a conservative business association, facing threats from terrorists while grappling with his own past and the burdens of public life. His wife, Käthe, shares his humble origins and seeks to preserve family intimacy amidst chaos, while their sons Rolf and Herbert embody contrasting responses to societal pressures, with Rolf's radical past and Herbert's bohemian outlook shaping their paths.
The narrative also delves into the lives of other characters, such as the disillusioned Veronica Zelger, who finds herself entwined with terrorism, and Hubert Hendler, a security guard torn between duty and personal desire. Each character navigates the complexities of loyalty, love, and morality amid an environment rife with violence and ideological divides. Their stories highlight themes of identity, familial bonds, and the weight of history, ultimately portraying a society at a crossroads. This analysis invites readers to reflect on the implications of their choices and the societal context that shapes their lives.
The Safety Net: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Heinrich Böll
First published: Fürsorgliche Belagerung, 1979 (English translation, 1982)
Genre: Novel
Locale: West Germany
Plot: Social
Time: c. 1978
Fritz Tolm (tohlm), a wealthy newspaper owner in his mid-sixties who has just been elected president of the Association. As president of this organization, which represents the conservative interests of the West German business establishment, Tolm is catapulted into public prominence and is more vulnerable than ever as a symbolic target for the terrorists wishing to strike a blow at the West German system. Tolm, who experienced poverty in his youth, inherited a newspaper from his godfather toward the end of World War II. Although Tolm had a Ph.D. in art history and had no interest in newspapers, his paper, under the direction of its financial manager, Amplanger, consumed competing papers and became an empire. Reluctantly maneuvered into accepting the presidency of the Association because of his positive public image as a cultured and kindly gentleman, Tolm is mentally and physically weary. He lacks true independence and does not even control his own paper. He is surrounded by elaborate police protection and has no privacy. With the support of his wife, Käthe, he repudiates his public position to bury the dead terrorist, Heinrich Beverloh, whom he loved as a son. He and Käthe decide to leave their mansion, Tolmshoven, and to move into an empty vicarage to be accessible to their children.
Käthe Tolm (KAY-teh), Fritz Tolm's attractive, warm-hearted, and generous wife. She, like Fritz, comes from a humble background, and she has little tolerance for self-important or stupid members of the economic elite; she much prefers common people. Her life centers on her family, and she longs to regain privacy and family intimacy.
Rolf Tolm, a son of the Tolms, a brilliant and talented economist whose promising career as a banker was aborted when he was jailed for throwing stones and setting cars on fire during a violent political protest. Still a radical, he has repudiated violence and lives on the grounds of a Catholic parish with his common-law wife, Katharina Schroter, an intelligent and sensitive communist, and their son, Holger II.
Herbert Tolm, the Tolms' other son. Opposed to violence, he, too, rejected the artificiality and mindless development of West German society. He has refused to go to Tolmshoven, where his family has moved after selling their former home to a strip-mining coal corporation. He nevertheless welcomes his parents'visits to his apartment in Cologne, where he plans protest demonstrations with his lively fellow bohemian proponents of an “alternate society.”
Veronica Zelger (ZEHL-gehr), the former wife of Rolf Tolm and the mother of his son Holger I. She has become the lover of the terrorist Heinrich Beverloh and has been underground with him in the Middle East for three years. She telephones the warning that the terrorists will launch an attack using booby-trapped bicycles. Placed in charge of planting an explosive bicycle, a disenchanted Veronica turns herself over to the police.
Sabine Fischer (zah-BEE-neh), née Tolm the beautiful, golden-blonde, quiet, and religiously devout daughter of the Tolms. She married the insensitive, materialistic, playboy scion of an exploitative textile conglomerate, Erwin Fischer. Sabine, under elaborate police protection against terrorism, has fallen in love and had a furtive affair with one of her protectors, Hubert Hendler.
Hubert Hendler, a tall, blond, serious, and morally upright security guard who joined the police because he loves order. Hubert has become infatuated with Sabine, whom he is guarding. After prolonged and agonized soul-searching, Hubert decides to leave his wife and son for Sabine.
Helga Hendler, Hubert's noble and long-suffering wife. More concerned for Hubert and his happiness than for herself, she tells him to go and live with Sabine, hoping that Hubert eventually will return to her and their son, Bernhard.
Holger I, the son of Rolf Tolm and Veronica Zelger. Veronica persuaded Heinrich Beverloh to send him back home. Holger I has been carefully trained not to divulge any information that might betray the terrorists and has been programmed, as Veronica has attempted to warn the Tolms, to wreak havoc. During Beverloh's funeral, he sets fire to Tolmshoven, which Fritz and Käthe have already decided to leave.
Holzpuke (HOHLTS-pew-keh), the officer in charge of security for the Tolm family. He is an extremely efficient technician but attempts to be as sensitive to the feelings of the Tolms as his professionalism will allow.
Heinrich “Bev” Beverloh (HIN-rihkh BAY-vehr-loh), a brilliant economist who has grown up with the Tolm children. After earning his doctorate in the United States, he has become a radical and a terrorist. He was masterminding a terrorist attack against the Association, from his hiding place in the Middle East, when he was located by the German security forces. Holzpuke, through electronic surveillance of a conversation between Käthe and Fritz, learns of Beverloh's obsessive interest in shoes; by tracking the purchases of a specific size and brand of expensive shoes in Istanbul, he locates Beverloh. In surrendering, however, Beverloh deliberately sets off an explosive device that kills him and two of his captors.
Bleibl (BLI-behl), a dominant German industrialist, a coarse man who Fritz believes is out to destroy him. Bleibl, although he was a Nazi, was favored by his American captors at the end of the war. With an American officer, Bangors, Bleibl looted the vaults of destroyed banks; the loot served as the foundation for a financial and industrial empire. During one of the thefts, however, Bleibl was startled by a young woman, who had been sleeping in the rubble. Without thinking, he shot her, and her corpse became a specter that destroys his marriage to his attractive, talented, and industrious wife, Hilde. Unable to find satisfaction in a succession of women and wives, a sixty-five-year-old Bleibl exorcises the ghost by a confessional reconciliation with his antagonists, the Tolms, and becomes determined to attempt a reconciliation with Hilde.