Manisha Das !!

Theme: Repression
Character: Ratcatcher
Technique: Doubling language

I haven't really spoken about Doubling Language yet:

Repression is a key theme throughout the play Kindertransport and Diane Samuels uses the Ratcatcher as a symbol of portraying the restraint thus the anxiety felt by Eva/Evelyn whenever the Ratcatcher or a form of authority is present.

The male figures; Nazi border official, the English organiser, the postman and the station guard are all types of certain authority, and are also played by the Ratcatcher. It is interesting as to why the Ratcatcher is given these specific roles, this is because the Ratcatcher is the embodiment of fear and is always present when Eva/Evelyn feels uneasy or anxious.  Similarly, it is important to regard the roles of the other male figures within the play, for instance when Faith declares how she feels about her mother, Evelyn, on page 44: “FAITH. You can’t go on a train without hyper-ventilating. You cross the road if you see a policeman or traffic warden.”  This quotation perfectly demonstrates how anxiety fuels Evelyn and the way she leads her life through the constant male authority. “without hyper-ventilating” this exaggeration that Faith uses represents both the typical thoughts of an offspring towards their parent, but it represents the way Faith views her mother as someone who is fragile and quite sensitive, thus subverting the generic roles of a mother-daughter relationship, causing Faith to be the “worrying” figure.

The point in which both Eva/Evelyn are talking to one another; as though they are mirroring each other’s inner thought is a poignant part of the play, highlighting how firstly, the Eva is somewhat “within” Evelyn, and with Evelyn’s constantly condemning her inner thoughts and feelings, as she constantly uses terms such as “Be quiet”, highlighting the theme of repression perfectly. This is shown on page 45, “EVA. His eyes are sharp as knives. EVELYN. Be quiet”  Eva demonstrates how the Ratcatcher, which she could be describing is tormenting  her. The simile describing the eyes highlights physical violence of the “knives”  and could implicitly indicate the Nazism and how the Nazis’ view and society led to the physical violence and slaughtering of Jews.

 Stage direction: “Pipemusic. The shadow of the RATCATCHER looms” this stage direction highlights to readers/audiences that whenever there is conflict or a sense of “truth” about Eva/Evelyn to be spilt, the Ratcatcher, the one feature which was always present with Eva will come out. Again, the Ratcatcher is the symbol of repression and fear, as Eva and readers were first introduced to him at the beginning of the play, foreshadowing his ever-lasting curse, if you will, upon Eva. On page 15, “EVA. You said I could chose...I don’t want anything else” whilst Eva is speaking to her biological mother, Helga, about what book to read, Eva persists on “Der Rattenfänger”, perhaps highlighting that Eva, saying “I don’t want anything else” how the Ratcatcher always had a hold over her, like the Nazis’ manipulated and dictated the Jews.