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The Red Line

Setting

Time: Could be a contemporary story
Place: The story takes place in London in the Underground Tube
Mood: The situation is rather confusing though. Berto is lost in the Tubes and can’t find the way to Cathy. Tense: something has to happen

Narrator

The story is told form of a third person. Shifting the point of view gives different views of all the characters and a vision of three different worlds.

Maincharacters

Berto

 external:
- Italian
- hairy

 internal:
- proud - he feels that men shouldn’t come across as being helpless and doesn’t want to be laughed at
- self-conscious – he was laughed at when he spoke and doesn’t do it therefore
- like simple things – the concrete buildings


The nameless man

 external:
- clean, with no body hair
- seems to be a good dancer/singer

 Internal:
- Expression of exaggeration of narcissism – the rest of the world threaten him when they don’t place him in center
- Perfectionist and particular in his own eyes
- Judging – how he judges Berto in the train
- Cherub – barok-like – doesn’t want to follow the development

Denise

 external:
- Young english girl

 internal:
- Paranoid - petrified of being raped – destroying her life

Berto: Italian norms – conservative – old fashioned
Nameless man and Denise: superficial, judgefull, has prejudices*, based on media – modern

* N: People like Berto are destroying the society, D: all men are rapists

Themes

Appearance vs. reality:
The nameless guy is a fine example of this theme. He is described as being almost angelic, but as the story unfolds, you see that the man is not in anyway angelic, because he murders Berto.

Denise sees Berto as a threat because of his appearance, & is wondering when he is going to make his move& attack her. But in reality, he just wants to ask her for help to find his way. She mentions that the nameless guy looks like a child & would not be able to protect her if Berto were to attack.
The nameless guy sees Berto as being ”stubble” in the London society, and sees him in a light that is not like Berto. He thinks that Berto is listening to this ’black music’, because he doesn’t look as pure as he does.

Insecurity:
The nameless guy is very afraid of change & wants the world to stay the same. He has his set routines & likes to keep things that way. As soon as he realises that his world is changing, he becomes a murderer.
Berto’s insecurity of speaking the English language (because Cathy’s boyfriend laughed at him) cost him his life. (you could also use ’pride’ as a theme in this case).
Because Berto is also in a country that he knows nothing about, he feels very insecure about things.

Perfection:
The nameless guy is a perfectionist. He has no body hair protruding from anywhere, his skin is soft, has dainty feet & hands, and has crystal blue eyes. He likes to inspect himself for any form of imperfection.

Isolation:
Because of being in a big city, there are so many different classes of people with many personalities & intensions, and they are totally isolated from one another. This makes them lonely, but they do this also for protection. Lack of communication – alienated, judging afraid – being lost = no direction in life (society: hard to find your way)

The language

In the beginning, the story is very descriptive. It gives all the information needed to picture exactly what the characters look like & also what the places look like, & what the situations feel like to the people. The story shifts from one person to another, each part of the story is divided sections with sub-headings. Also the sub-headings all have the names of stations along the route on which Berto is travelling…the black line.

Symbols

The red line:
At the end of the story, when Berto is killed, he sees a trickle of his own blood making a red line on the floor, & then only does he remember the way to Cathy. Ironically, he finds his way through his death, because if he hadn’t seen his blood drawing the line on the floor, it wouldn’t have triggered his memory.

Leitmotifs

The map:
The map that is always referred to is not a physical map, but rather a sign of no meaning or bearing (direction) in his life.

Tss tss bang bang: 1. Bob Seger, 2. The Black Music, 3. Sound of the train – world continues in spite of Berto’s death


The cherub:
This is a sign of innocence.

Perspective

The nameless guy can be related to the main character in the story ”American Psycho”. He is also a perfectionist & ends up killing people supposedly to perfect today’s society.

This can also be related to ”streetlights” when the girl gets lost in the fog. The girl being Berto. Even though they come from totally different backgrounds, they both feel like outcasts of the city, & feel lost in society.

Circus Lady: Marie = Denise

- Comment on society - superficial

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