World war 2 was by far the most massive armed conflict in human history. Though the exact numbers will always be unknown, one death toll count reached 60 million people, although that number could just as well be much higher. Besides this incomprehensible death count, all sides of this conflict committed many more atrocities. So how does one cope with this enormity once the war is done? Immediately after the war, Germany tried to move on, and forget about the past. Their soldiers were not honoured or recognized, as in the case of the allies, even though they had also been equally brave and risked everything for their country, and now they could no longer fit in. This alienation is what Heinrich Boll was addressing …show more content…
The story “Business is business” is about one of these soldiers. The main character started off young wanting to go into business (385), fighting in the war, and then when he came back, his old life was gone, and now he had nothing. He had nothing financially, not even enough to pay …show more content…
As far as living conditions went, he got off extremely well. He was able to come back to a successful marriage, secured his old position at the textile factory, and still had his opportunities for advancement. Compared to the character in the first story, this guy seemed to be doing extremely well. However, there is also an eerie similarity between the two characters. Just like in “business is business”, the main character in “the postcard” appears to have lost a part of himself. At the chronological start of the story, he was an ordinary guy who was looking forward to his first day of vacation on a Saturday morning. With the arrival of a single postcard, he has become a soldier and was no longer the same person as before ever again. He lacked motivation in his career, and was not sure if he should have married his wife, even after ten years of being together. In other words, even though he managed to recover physically, he was still hurt psychologically. What Heinrich Boll is getting at here is that the hurt that soldiers experience is a terrible deep trauma that even when it is hidden in daily life, it is still very much