Bertie is often preoccupied with Gert’s whereabouts, especially after WWII. In what ways is his preoccupation reasonable? In what ways is it detrimental? Where is the line, if any, between healthy and unhealthy concern about a loved one?
I don’t one ever gets over being concerned about a loved one especially if there isn’t any closure. I would keep looking too
He loved Gert and i think saw him as very vulnerable and not as careful as he should be. Given what he was seeing and hearing, i think his preoccupation was reasonable. Was it detrimental? I dont see why. Yes, the decision to contact Roy was driven by Gert but they didnt have other options so why not. And Gert possibly being alive gave them hope that they desperately needed.
It seemed Bert’s preoccupation with Gert’s fate was tied to their own narrow escape from the Institute. When Gert didn’t show up as planned at his grandparent’s house Bert knew then something bad had happened. Bert also felt guilty for not taking the time to destroy the Institute’s file on Gert. Of course, there were other records he had forgotten about that identified all of them and the Nazis had easy access to them. All to say, Bert was heaping the guilt on himself even though the times and circumstances were impossible. It is a classic description of the survivor’s guilt.
1 Like
I found Bertie’s concern for Gert, his refusal to believe Gert was dead, and his deep desire to know what really happened to Gert believable. I imagine the trauma they all experienced would leave me wanting to know more, facing the inevitable truth, and also turning away from that same truth. Perhaps unhealthy concern for a loved one would only arise if that concern made it impossible to move forward in concern for self. At one point, Bertie’s guilt made him think he should have stayed in Germany to wait for Gert, that probably would have tipped into an unhealthy concern.
1 Like
He loved Gert; so constantly searching for him and thinking of him seems quite natural. There is also a component of survivor’s guilt. Bertie felt guilty for not destroying Gert’s papers; which he things may have led to his capture/death.
I interpreted Bertie’s second-guessing about Gert as a combination of survivor’s guilt; shame & self-recrimination about not destroying the records of other clients of the Institute, including Gert; and the torture of not knowing with certainty what happened to Gert. The lack of irrefutable proof that Gert did not survive plagued Bertie because it allowed him to have what was, according to all available evidence and the logical conclusions to be drawn from it, false hope that Gert somehow escaped and survived. That’s the cruelty of unanswered questions. Clearly, Roy was tormented by the same unanswered questions that left room to cling to the faint hope that Gert would arrive in America.
I don’t agree that Bertie was necessarily “preoccupied” because of the negative connotation associated with that word. Bertied loved Gert deeply and fully, and he was his best friend. It was natural for him to wonder what exactly happened and cling to any hope, no matter how unreasonable, that Gert was alive. It was plainly, however, detrimental to Bertie because it prevented him from accepting reality, grieving for Gert, and moving on, secure in the heartbreaking knowledge that he would not see his friend again. If there is a line it is between knowing and not knowing. I have lost many loved ones and in a few cases, I was with them at the moment of death. There was no uncertainty about their departure. And even though it was extremely difficult to accept, I knew that they were truly gone. Living with uncertainty must surely be hell, as the parent of any lost child will attest, based on what I have read and watched about such cases. They describe it as living in a kind of limbo where giving up hope entirely seems wrong, as does believing they are deceased and living life accordingly. After all, there have been cases when missing persons have been found years later.
It is beyond dispute that Bertie was a sympathetic character in myriad ways and this was just one of them.