In Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood gives us a portrait of German society in the closing years of the Weimar Republic. His characters are drawn from all of the different social classes, and they have varying backgrounds and experiences. Assuming that Isherwood has given us an accurate depiction of the period, do you think that the Weimar Republic was doomed? Was this society simply too unstable and internally divided to survive? Some topics you might want to look at: What are the working class characters worried about? What do the middle and upper classes fear? Which of Isherwood’s characters are most attracted to Nazism? Why? Which ones are attracted to communism? Does anyone in the book seem enthusiastic about the existing system? Are any of the characters anti-Semitic? What reasons do they give for their dislike of Jews? How do the Jewish characters in the story respond to an increasingly hostile environment?
