The Tobacconist – Reading Group Questions

The Tobacconist – Reading Group Questions When seventeen-year-old Franz leaves his rural home to take a job as a Viennese tobacconist’s apprentice, his initial homesickness soon fades amidst the fascination of the city. Among the shop’s regular customers is a Professor Freud, whose predilection for cigars and occasional willingness to dispense romantic advice will forge a bond between him and the young Franz. It is 1937. In a matter of months, Germany will annex Austria and the storm that has been threatening to engulf the little tobacconist will descend, leaving the lives of Franz, his employer and Professor Freud entirely changed.  At the beginning of The Tobacconist, Franz is young and away from home for the first time; how does his character grow and develop throughout the novel?  Discuss the relationship between Franz and Otto Trsnyek. Why do you think the tobacconist agrees to take Franz on as an apprentice?  Why do you think Franz makes the decision to start writing down his dreams and displaying them in the window of the tobacconist’s?  What do you think Franz learns from Freud during their conversations?  Why do you think Franz offers no resistance when he’s finally apprehended by officials?  At the end of the novel, we find only Anezka still in Vienna; why do you think she alone has managed to survive, to see out the War in the old neighbourhood?  Franz talks about the importance of taking responsibility for one’s actions; in what ways do different characters do this in The Tobacconist?  Given the events of the novel, do you think Franz made the right decision to leave the Salzkammergut, and come to Vienna?