1) SONJA VERENA Erzähler ordentlich mysteriös dünn mag die Kontrolle haben spricht viel eine Künstlerin liebt zu lachen trügerisch zierlich hat viele Freunde Direkte unpünktlich zuversichtlich verwirrt selbständig zuversichtlich stabil raucht spricht nicht guter Zuhörer 2) Bauer describes the characters in Sonja as traditional females who are stuck in a world dominated by men, where they are forced to pander to the wants and needs of men in an attempt to get their affection. The female characters in the story are often seen to do whatever they need to in order to garner attention from men. Sonja is seen almost like a blank canvas onto which all the narrator’s desires could be painted on until he figures out that she has her own wants and needs and this pushes him to instead choose to propose to his girlfriend as opposed to Sonja. Traditional gender roles are explored and adultery is normalised and innocently portrayed as something which is “driven by passionate love” as opposed to something which occurs because of monotony or dissatisfaction with one’s own marriage. These sort of things were quite common in the nineteenth century. The narrator in the story is left feeling annoyed at the prospect of possibly having lost out on true happiness when he instead settled for a traditional marriage which offered “comfort and security.” The narrator of the story struggles to wrap his head around Sonja and her wants and desires, particularly that she wants to fulfil her traditional role as a woman by getting married and having children. This is challenging and difficult for the narrator to accept, as he cannot imagine Sonja being anything other than what she is told to be. In the end, the narrator is forced to accept that Sonja has decided her own fate and no longer willing to come second in his life. She took control of her own situation and left without a trace, and disappeared for good. He would never see or hear from her again and had to live with the consequences of his choices. 3) In the story, we are introduced to Sonja when the narrator bumps into her on a train journey back to his home in berlin. He is the main character in the story and through him, we learn more about Sonja and Verena. Sonja is depicted as a strong-willed, free-spirited woman who knows what she wants and is not afraid of working to get it. Throughout the story, the narrator describes his fascination with her and attempts to convince the reader that he is not in fact in love with her, but merely enjoys her company and the fun that they have together. Initially, the relationship between the two of them seems rather innocent and as the story progresses it becomes more evident that there is more to their relationship than just enjoying one another's company. The narrator quickly becomes accustomed to Sonja and the more time they spend together the more he is able to observe her and subconsciously make mental notes about her habits, which he seems more and more enthralled by. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months as the narrator and Sonja grow closer. Despite all this time spent together the narrator begins to realise that he in fact knows nothing about Sonja at all as she never really shares anything about her personal life with him. Initially, it seems to bother him but that soon fades as he falls more in love with her. It also seems the narrator is quite comfortable just speaking about himself. They form a special bond, and even though the narrator is involved with Verena he continues to see Sonja when she is not around. Verena is the narrator's girlfriend, and he is very much in love with her as we are told throughout the story. She lives in a different city to him and they don’t see each other that often but that has no bearing on his feelings for her or hers for him. Verena Is independent and often travels for work, spending a lot of time away from home. Her and the narrator stay in touch and see each other whenever they can. Their relationship is based on mutual trust and the narrator seems to not be incredibly concerned about betraying her trust by spending time with Sonja. The narrator is unwilling to commit to Sonja because of his relationship with Verena, who he finds easier for him as she conforms to his ideas of what a woman should be like. Unlike the wild, unpredictable Sonja who suggested they should get married and have children. The relationship changes after this as the narrator rushes to propose to his girlfriend, who readily accepts. When he breaks this news to Sonja, he is chased away but expects her initial anger to subside as it usually does and to see her again. What he soon finds out is that he has lost Sonja forever and will always be left wondering what a life with her would have been like but he will never know.
