Point Of View And Irony: A Generation Rising

Summary - One winter night, a baby is born in Graswang Village, Bavaria, Germany. The baby, born to Hans and Inga Eckhardt, is named Hans Otto Eckhardt; after his father and Otto von Bismarck, the great German leader and chancellor. Inga, the boy's mother, is the oldest child of a pig farmer and did not come from a wealthy family. When she turned thirteen, she started working as an indentured servant for a very wealthy man, named Hermann Kleindienst, in the village of Oberammergau. Inga had a “keen and quick mind” and became a very good worker, for which she was quickly noticed. She was set to work as a clerk in the Kleindienst’s store, and it was there that she met Hans Eckhardt. Hans came from a family of dairy farmers in the town of Graswang.

The author shows some of the thoughts of several people throughout the book. By writing in this way the readers are able to see what is going on simultaneously in different locations. If the whole story was written from Ingas point of view then readers would not know what was going on in Munich when the war breaks out, or the conditions on the battlefield. If only Hans Otto’s thoughts were known then the story would be slanted so the reader would only see him as the wonderful person he thinks he is and less like a spoiled stuck up child. The point of view makes it possible for the author to more fully show what different people in different circumstances and places were going through during the time and how they dealt with trials. Having the point of view be of the German people in WWI is ironic. By writing about German people during the war it humanizes them and makes it more difficult to see them as the “bad guys.” The expectation of WWI books written by Americans is that they will make the Allies the hero’s and they will demonize the axis powers. If the other side is seen as human, then fighting and killing them becomes much less heroic. Another ironic element of “A generation Rising” is that when Hans Otto is born his father is very happy that he finally got an heir to keep the family dairy farm in the family line of being passed from father to son, but because he adored his only son so

His parents name him after Otto von Bismarck, a great general who served the fatherland well. So despite all their efforts to keep him from becoming a soldier, he joins the army to fight for the fatherland. Another symbol is Lady Magdalena von Kruger. Magdalena is the daughter of the von Krugers who run the academy that Hans Otto goes to. She is the symbol of the upper class that Hans Otto wrongfully thinks he can be a part of. For a while they are in a relationship but don’t tell their parents. When Inga and Hans find out, they are very anger that Hans Otto has been lying to them. They know that he could never marry her because he isn’t in a high enough place in society; however, Hans is prideful and believes he is good enough to marry her. When Magdalena breaks up with him it symbolizes that he never was part of the upper class and never could be despite how much he wanted to be and worked for to try to fit in with the upper class. Similarly to Lady Magdalena, the academy itself is a symbol of Hans leaving behind his station in life. The school is run by the upper class and is the gateway for Hans becoming an engineer. Hans thinks getting accepted means he is equal with the upper class even though it is just the upper classes way of trying to show their “goodness” by admitting 1/4 of their students from the lower classes.

Tone - The tone of this story is matter-of-fact. Telling the story with the views of multiple