Storytelling Theme Analysis

The many representations of storytelling in Goodbye to Berlin highlight the ways that people use storytelling to define and understand themselves. Significantly, the novel itself is a fictionalized representation of Christopher Isherwood’s time living in Berlin in the 1930s. This fact highlights the importance of storytelling as a means of record-keeping and art-making. In addition, throughout the novel, characters often lie or bend the truth to make themselves appear a certain way. For example, before Christopher first meets Sally Bowles, their mutual friend Fritz Wendel tells him that Sally’s mother is French. When Christopher asks her about this, she claims that Fritz must be confused. However, later on, she admits to Christopher that she had told Fritz this fact, even though both of her parents are English. Presumably, Sally wanted to appear more interesting or cultured to Fritz. Christopher vows to keep her secret, showing that he understands why she lied.

Later in the novel, when Christopher lives with the Nowak family, the reader sees another instance when a character warps the truth. When Christopher asks Otto Nowak if he is still in touch with Peter Wilkinson, Otto says that Peter hurt him very much by leaving him. However, as Christopher (and the reader) knows from earlier events, Otto is the one who left Peter. Otto’s lie, which he possibly believes himself, is another example of a character’s tendency to stretch the truth in order to appear a certain way. In this case, Otto absolves himself from being the villain of his relationship with Peter by effectively rewriting the events of their farewell. Both Otto and Sally bend the truth to conform to a certain narrative and shape the way others see them. In this way, then, Goodbye to Berlin highlights the role that storytelling plays in understanding others, oneself, and the world in which one exists.