Stasiland Response - "Funder Explores How the Trauma of the Years Behind the Wall Is Never Resolved." to What Extent Do You Agree?

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Anna Funder articulates the stark contrast which existed between the lives of the East German Stasi and the ordinary civilians. Her exposé, Stasiland, depicts the totalitarian and oppressive regime which inflicted extreme levels of not only physical, but psychological damage upon its own citizens. Funder's use of a journalistic style and narrative elements works to cultivate our sympathies and encourage us to envisage a "topsy-turvy" landscape where it is "sentence first - verdict afterwards." Funder naïvely believes that through the power of story telling will bring a sense of closure to those who have told. Whilst other individuals resorted to other methods to escape the trauma of those years behind the wall. Anna's focus on the personal stories of former German Democratic Republic citizens forms a collective biography testifies to a long past. Through Anna's adventures she explores both past and present life of Germany, in a attempt to establish a conclusion on how the past has become very much present for those who experienced the Stasi regime. From the outset, Funder's project is one that has a desire to unearth and shape the memories of the individuals she interviewed. When Anna first arrives in East Germany she is hungover. During this time she is recovering just as Germany was at this time. "Destroyed synapses are reconstructing themselves", in saying this she urges those in East Germany to revisit the past in order to make "odd, new connections." This "reconstructing" was found to be quite difficult to some individuals Anna spoke to throughout the text. Miriam is a character that has shown to be shaped by the events and memories of the past. "I couldn't say to someone 'I'll meet you on Sunday' I found that sort of thing an unbearable obligation." In her saying this it projects to the reader that the past has evidently had an ongoing effect on Miriam.

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