"Stay Sincere"

                                                   

       This is Mary Beth. In the last class, we finished watching The White Ribbon. In the second half of the film, a number of different disturbing events were revealed within the German Protestant village. Taking each event into consideration, one can only wonder how it must have been to live in such a cold and emotionless time and place.
       The second half of the film opened with a young man returning home and greeting his father with "Good Morning." After no reply, the young man says "Father, they set me free," to which his father responds, "I see that, so what?" This is just one example of how emotionally disconnected the families within the film are, especially in respect to father-child relationships. A similar example is when the doctor's son, Rudolph, disappears, and when found, does not want to return home. Thirdly, and hardest to ignore, is when we discover that the same doctor has been sexually abusing his 14 year old daughter. Unconsciously, he dismisses his reactions with the quote, "Beauty has to suffer."
       The shame that parents within the film place on their children is also something worth noticing. For instance, Eva feels so much shame admitting her feelings about the schoolteacher in front of her father, that she has to leave the room. Additionally, the pastor makes his son feel extreme guilt for masturbating, an expected behavior for a boy his age. He instills fear in him with a story of a young boy who died from the act, warning him, "Stay sincere....I'm only telling you this because I love you." The guilt is visible one the boy's face, and he cries and admits to his behavior in shame. As a result, his hands are bound to his bed at night.
      Yet, the most significant example of guilt is when the pastor proclaims the shame he feels of his daughter during bible study in front of the other pupils. One can see that his daughter is a girl who has been burdened with shame her entire life and has finally reached her breaking point. Her father's words overwhelm her to the point where she faints in the schoolroom. After returning home, the anger she feels toward her father for making her feel such extreme guilt leads her to kill his beloved bird in a gruesome manner. This is the first indicator that she and the other school children may be the culprits of the many crimes within the village, including the vicious beating of a young mentally retarded boy, Karli.
      Although it is never revealed who the perpetrators of the crimes were, it is likely that the children of the village were involved. Although they were expected to have unconditional respect for their parents, they also felt extreme resentment towards them. Thus, their frustration was taken out in the form of vicious and preconceived wrong-doings. This hypothesis gives insight into the mindsets of the generation that would ultimately become the Nazi Party.