Ludwig+Götten

__Character Study on Ludwig Götten__

In the novel "The lost honour of Katherina Blum" the writer, Heinrich Böll forms the character Ludwig Götten through the use of police reports and the press. Ludwig Götten's character is configured to be a rebellious terrorist resisting against the state, for example when policewoman Pletzer tells the reader "Ludwig Götten was a wanted man who had been nearly convicted of bank robbery and was suspected of murder and other crimes." Although the reader has given us reason not to trust the information we are reading, for example page 8 where Böll has included an extended metaphor telling us there is missing information and therefore the report isn't wholly reliable. Although this makes it seem more believable because in real life, this is what usually happens. There will be contributions to stories that will never be heard or found, creating a story which isn't completely true. But the reader trusts what the policewoman is telling us at the beginning of the novel because this is the first introduction of the character.

Later in the novel we discover Blum's intimate relationship with Götten. We begin to sympathise with him for having this relationship with the main character, "Ludwig had called her, and from //there!// He had been so sweet." and "all he wanted to say was that he liked her very, very, very much, and one day-he would come for her and take her away." Götten has become an anti-hero in the reader's eyes meaning even though he is related to criminal behaviour, the audience sympathises with the character as a hero as well. At this point the reader starts to question the evidence being given and whether or not Götten is really the terrorist the press makes him out to be.

Götten's character leads us into an important theme the writer is trying to introduce. Götten has been portrayed by the press as an evil terrorising murdering villain, when the only crime there has been evidence of him committing is robbing a bank. Heinrich Böll has formed this impression to emphasise what it was like in the mid-1970s when the Meihoff gang were being terrorised by the press and the media. Even though this gang terrorised and murdered people, Böll was angry at how the police and the press treated them. Böll has created this same situation in his novel except the anti-hero Götten is less of a terrorist. Through Götten being accused of such horrible acts by the press, the theme created is how the truth becomes twisted through propagation and oppression. The oppression comes from the press invading the character's personal life and creating lies and scandal about them.

Götten's character is well constructed and developed because he is a 2 dimensional character. The writer hasn't just created one side to Götten, where he is either good or evil. There are better factors about his character, and there are worse factors. I believe this is how people are in real life, where no one is perfect or completely bad like you'd find in fairytales. The better side of his character is how, even though Katherina Blum is a smart, independant woman she has fallen for him, and I believe him for her. Therefore he must have good traits for her to believe she has feelings for him. "she requests that she be arrested, she would like to be where her "dear Ludwig" is." On the other hand, Götten's actions such as robbing a bank, especially since we know of no other motive other then the obvious (money) contribute to the worse side of his character.

It is arguable that the character is not well-constructed because there is hardly any account from him himself, and therefore there is a lot about Götten left unknown to the reader. Although I believe the character is still well-constructed because each reader can therefore fill in the gaps and imagine for themselves the character they choose.

-Jenefer Davies

Ludwig Götten is a suspected bank robber and murderer who Katharina Blum ends up falling in love with after a party. While being watched and followed by the police, Gotten escapes from Katharina’s apartment without being seen. This leads to Katharina being interrogated by the police, the case being heavily publicised, and the eventual shooting of Totges, he reporter.

Götten was the cause of Katharina “losing her honour”, as he used the fact thats she is romantic and her naivety to help him escape. Their relationship was sexual, as she slept with him only a few hours after meeting, however she claims that she loves him: “...don’t you see - he was simply the One...I would have married him and had children with him” and also refers to him as my “dear Ludwig”. Götten also seems to care for her as he called her and also tried to clear her name when he was arrested. This shows that he had some feelings for her, however it is most likely that he used her to escape.

We do not know much about Ludwig Götten’s character, as we do not know what is said about him is true or not. This allows the reader to decide whether he is good or bad, as we are presented with two sides of his character: Katharina’s side, which will be biased as she has feelings for him, and the police’s side, who will be looking for as much evidence as possible to support the fact that he is a criminal. As Heinrich Böll states quite often in the book, we cannot be sure whether the facts we are given are true or not.. This leaves the readers to create their own opinion on whether he is good or bad. This is quite difficult to do, because most of the information we know about him comes from other characters and not actually himself.

- Pauline Hilley

Ludwig Götten is a character in the novel “The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum”, Heinrich Böll had purposely jumble up the order of the story and its chronological order; and he had chosen to describe and present Ludwig Götten through the statements of police and newspaper articles. Götten was labelled as a terrorist in the novel, but he was not a terrorist that do physical damage to the state, but he fights the state psychologically, being rebellious.

The newspaper articles about Götten are mostly twisted and untrue, some even talks about his personal life – invading privacy is usually not trusted by readers, and Götten is portrayed by Böll as a criminal since gullible people believed the newspapers. “Ludwig Götten, the outlaw and murderer who has been sought by the police for a year and a half, could have been arrested yesterday if his mistress, Katharina Blum, a domestic, had not destroyed all traces of him and covered his escape..." This is shown by the author that Blum's behaviour is immature and shows her innocence - letting a criminal get away.

Ludwig Götten has a close, sexual relationship with Blum as they slept together after meeting for a few hours; this again shows how innocence she had been tricked by Götten in a sexual relationship. Since the author chose to mention Ludwig Götten mostly in the newspaper articles and police statements, the readers are not sure about what really happened, and thus, leaving an open ended conclusion for the readers to decide for themselves.

- DereK//™//