50 pages • 1 hour read
Jenny ErpenbeckGo, Went, Gone
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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The Drowned Man
The novel opens with Richard wondering about a man who drowned in the lake several months earlier. He had been in a swimming accident. While he was drowning, he had waved to people on the shore, but they thought he was just waving hello because he was not close enough for them to hear or see his distress. The drowned man begins to invade Richard’s thoughts every time he looks at the lake, which is hard to avoid since the lake is visible from nearly every one of his windows and also from the garden. When the lake freezes, Richard imagines the man trapped below the ice, trying to get the attention of someone above who could help him escape. He compares the man to someone waiting in purgatory prior to being moved along to salvation. Similarly, the refugees are both present in peoples’ thoughts, but also invisible to them. At Alexanderplatz, one of them holds a sign that reads: “We become visible” (174). They are not part of the country, just as the drowned man is not a part of Richard’s life, but they cannot be ignored any more than Richard can banish thoughts of the drowned man—who called for help that he did not receive—from his mind.
Music and the Piano
When Osarobo tells Richard that he would like to be able to play the piano, Richard invites him over. For a few sporadic weeks he gives him lessons. He also shows the boy three musicians online so that he can see how advanced pianists can play: “For a long time the old man and this young man sit there side by side at the desk, watching and listening as these three musicians use the black and white keys to tell stories that have nothing at all to do with keys’ colors” (161). Music—via the piano—binds Osarobo together with Richard in a shared interest. The tones of the songs have nothing to do with race, nationalism, refugees, or war. They can be, and are, appreciated by anyone who hears them. During the rare moments when they celebrate, the refugees sing African folk songs, a part of their heritage that still comforts them in Germany. They do not tell Richard to stop when he joins in singing with them in the car and instead encourage him, helping him learn a piece of their culture that is special to them.
Mythology
Richard sees many images and people in the novel through the lens of Greek mythology. He is an expert in the Greek pantheon and finds parallels in the narratives that unfold in the book. When someone is elusive or clever, they remind him of Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey. The refugee with the golden sneakers reminds him of the messenger god Hermes, who wore winged sandals and served as a divine courier. He renames one of the refugees Apollo—at least, this is how he refers to him in his mind—because he is handsome and noble and reminds Richard of how he had always imagined Apollo. He compares Rashid, who often serves as a spokesman for the group, to Zeus, the hurler of thunderbolts, who commanded the other gods on Olympus.
The liberal, elite professor uses his study of history to see the refugees affectionately by aligning them with divine literary and mythological figures to whose study he devoted his entire working life. And when he compares the refugees to the gods, it is never because they have done something to remind him that the gods were also petty and scheming and petulant. His associations with the refugees and the gods are always highlighting the gods’ most positive traits.
