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The Dinner Herman Koch Analysis

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The Dinner written by Herman Koch challenges the ideas of what makes a family, the violence involved as well as having disturbing images. The novel follows a family over the courses of a dinner at a not so normal restaurant. The family wants to be happy, despite the secret that they all share. There is a tremendous amount of violence that is shown in the novel, with disturbing images that many would not like to imagine. The novel presents the reader what seems to be a normal family, with their characteristics of how much they would do to have a happy life with each other. The reader may think otherwise and say the family is definitely not a happy family. The novel can be challenged by the fact the Lohman family is anti-family. A big event causes a secret to be brought to the Lohman family, and whether or not if they should tell someone and ruin their happy family, or protect themselves. Paul Lohman the main …show more content…

Paul Lohman has a tendency of losing his temper easily and then results in him doing the unthinkable. Paul never thought he would act out against his brother and sister-in-law but when Serge and his wife Babette offered to let Michel stay with them for a while as Claire was in the hospital. Paul did not want his happy family to fall apart, and when Serge and Babette made the offering he acted quickly and did the most unthinkable. Paul had enough and “felt no pain, at least not at this point… Serge tried to duck, but the bottom edge of the pan hit him square in the face… I hit him a second time… There was a cracking sound, and blood now as well…” (Koch 214) Paul beats Serge with a boiling hot pan, the images that the author shows is described in a disturbing way, that could make the reader cringe. Another incident that has a disturbing image is when Michele and Rick murdered a innocent homeless woman. The two boys did not realise that they killed the woman until the deed was

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