7 - Retelling a story

Summary

Introduction

In the previous chapter, we analyzed how four versions of a single story from one speaker reframed what were initially very different sources of experience into one story. Here we focus on structural and evaluative changes in the same story. To recapitulate the content: Susan Beer and her family (Jews from Slovakia) had escaped persecution at home in Budapest, Hungary. As anti-Semitic measures intensified there (with mass deportations to Auschwitz spreading from rural communities to cities), Mrs. Beer's father learned of an escape plan in which German soldiers would return Slovakian nationals to a part of Slovakia freed by partisans. The plan turns out to be a trap: the family is captured, imprisoned, and then sent to Auschwitz.

We begin by observing that all four versions of Mrs. Beer's story provide basically the same information, although the form in which they do so differs (Section 7.2). The main portion of the chapter analyzes the structural and evaluative changes from a stanza (theme-based) to linear (event-based) narrative. After analyzing changes in Phase 1, the plan and Phase 2, anticipation (Section 7.3), and then Phase 3, the capture (Section 7.4), my summary brings together the re-framing and retelling of Susan Beer's story (Section 7.5).

Overview of stability and change

In this section, I provide an overview of what stays the same in the four versions of Mrs. Beer's story (Section 7.2.1) and the structural changes (Section 7.2.2).