Walter+Möding

=Walter Moeding=

===Well written, although I'm a bit confused by the last paragraph. To what extent is he a believable, rounded character? Does he play any role in the novel beyond the functional? Is there any significance to his flirtation with Katharina? Is he exploiting her from a position of power? Does he expect a 'reward' for his kindness?===

Walter Moeding is Beizmenne's assistant. Although his appearance in the novel is sporadic compared to other characters, his role is quite significant.

Moeding is depicted as a kind character from the beginning. When Beizmenne tried to handcuff Katharina, it was Moeding and Pletzer who persuaded him that it was unnecessary. He also makes "earnest and kindly attempts" to persuade Katharina to eat the coffee and sandwich provided by the police. It is his kind nature that allows the readers to feel comfortable with Moeding.

It should be noted that Moeding, along with Pletzer, is one of the few people in the police department who supports Katharina Blum against the relentless attack of the paparazzi. In page 34, knowing that the press would depict Katharina as a whore, he advises Katharina to "don't touch the phone, and don't look at the news tomorrow". Moeding's effort to protect Katharina from the derogatory material reflects his trust towards Katharina. Had Moeding believed that Katharina was a cold killer, he would not have given such help.

Katharina Blum, unlike with Beizmenne, is in good terms with Moeding. When Moeding asks Katharina out for a drink while he was driving her home after the interrogation, Katharina surprisingly accepts his offer, even going as far as to say that it "might even be nice". Throughout the novel, Katharina is clearly established as an ascetic, which is depicted through her brutal divorce against her ex-husband Brettloh for making advances to her. Her willingness to go to a bar with Moeding is contradictory to her prudish character. Her judgement indicates she trusts Moeding more than Brettloh to accept his advances.

//After reading the comment:// Walter Moeding is not a very believable character. His blind faith in Katharina (that she is a good person) without any suspicion or hostility is unrealistic. If Toetges is the steroetypical villain in the novel, Moeding is his complete opposite; While Toetges exploits Katharina's private life using the media, Moeding protects Katharina from it, purely out of the goodness of his heart. It would be questionable to say Walter has any role in the novel beyond the functional as his character is hardly touched in the narrative, making him a fairly one-dimensional character. His role may be reflecting Boell's personal opinion of the tabloid newspapers, which often bend the truth and make false scandals to sell their stories to the public. Through Moeding, Boell would have wanted to show how the bias of the media should **__not__** form the basis of people's judgement of others as they are often apocryphal. ~Eric Lee 12M1~

Walter Moeding is the assistant of Beizmenne, the chief commissioner of crime investigations. In this novel, he is portrayed as a kind and caring character towards Katharina Blum. Although he doesn’t appear a lot in the novel, he always appears randomly at some point specifically for a purpose to concern about Katharina Blum.

His care and concern about Katharina Blum starts off with Pletzer and him convincing Beizmenne not to put her in handcuffs on page 21. It shows his kindness but more importantly it shows his belief of her innocence in this particular case since handcuffs could be a symbol of guiltiness, and she shouldn’t be treated like a criminal. That makes Moeding somehow symbolises justice as well simply because it refers to the statement that everyone is innocent until proven to be guilty.

Later on page 33 and 34, it is stated that he is very concerned about her conditions and that he is in fear that she might resort to something desperate and he tried convincing Beizemenne during the night to take her in custody for protection. He also gave her an advice by the elevator when he drove her home, “Don’t touch the phone and don’t look at the news tomorrow”. Once again, he is trying to be helpful and also that a similar incident might have happened before and Moeding would have experienced it, therefore able to give an advice of what to do and what not to do. Also on page 34, Beizmenne asked if he is in love with her but he responded that she is of his own age and he likes her.

It is obvious that he constantly tries to help her and please her but I doubt personally that he expected a reward for his kindness. However, he still caught her attention as a reward and that is shown at the ending of the book on page 140, she went to visit him at the end and recognized him as “the police officer who had been so nice to me before”. It is known that the characters might not be reliable or believable and for Moeding, it is arguable in both ways. His determination of believing Katharina Blum is innocent is rather unrealistic and there is no solid evidence to prove that she is innocent either. It is also possible that because he likes her, the emotions and feelings it brought to him made his opinions biased. Even though it is rather unrealistic, Beizmenne’s theory of Katharina Blum being involved in a major conspiracy is questionable and it could just be complete nonsense out of imaginations. That would never justify her being guilty.

At last, I believe that although he is considered a minor character yet still very important. He has a role of being a protagonist and supports Katharina Blum and Boell might be using this character to demonstrate how the community was and how the victims of media scandals were judged in an unjustified way and they should be supported and protected. Also, it is possible of Moeding being used to show how people trusted others so easily just because of their appearance of kindness. Katharina Blum is under attack all day long by the media and there is the lack of support on her side and it makes it so easily for her to trust someone like Moeding that has been so kind to her during the interrogation periods.

Lok Wai Wong 12M1