Go Went Gone
Essay Prompts
Set in a city once famously containing a giant wall, Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck explores both physical and non-physical barriers. Discuss.
How is language and literature important in Go, Went, Gone?
Accommodation can mean both a place to stay or the practice of fitting something into an existing structure. How are each of these ideas portrayed in Go, Went, Gone?
‘Asylum fraud’ is nothing more than telling a true story in a country where noone’s legally obliged to listen, much less do anything in response. Why is storytelling so important for the asylum seekers?
Richard undergoes a transformation. What enables the change and how is it seen?
… this country of bookkeepers will be aghast and blame the objects of the transport for the expense, as used to happen in other periods of German history. Discuss the varying levels of empathy shown to the asylum seekers.
How and why does Erpenbeck blur the line between the seen and the unseen, above ground and underground?
To what extent do the refugees have lives that share a lot in common with Richard and his friends?