The Wall

The Wall (1963) is a novel by Marlen Haushofer. The novel features an eco-dystopia, with an unnamed protagonist trapped behind a clear wall while the world outside is frozen. As she strives to survive, the protagonist adopts various animals, making a family of sorts. The Wall uses the premise of ecological disaster to examine The Weight of Survival and Nature as a Dominant Force. The protagonist achieves Liberation Through Isolation by connecting with nature and taking a more introspective approach to her life. The Wall won the Arthur Schnitzler Prize in 1963, and remains Haushofer’s most famous work.

This study guide uses the English translation by Shaun Whiteside published by New Directions Paperback in 2011.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature animal cruelty and death, child death, illness, death, suicidal ideation, graphic violence and mental illness.

Plot Summary

The Wall is the written account of an unnamed protagonist as she details her two-and-a-half-year isolation behind a mysterious wall. She is trapped inside, while the world beyond it is frozen.

In April, the protagonist visits her cousin, Luise, and Luise’s husband, Hugo, at their hunting lodge in the Austrian Alps. The protagonist, a middle-aged woman, looks forward to the trip, not needing to stay behind and watch her near-adult daughters. Hugo drives her in his black Mercedes, and when they arrive, Luise convinces Hugo to walk into the village with her. The protagonist stays behind with Hugo’s dog, Lynx, and waits for them to return. When night falls, she goes to bed, believing they are sidetracked. In the morning, she wakes to find them still away.

The protagonist takes Lynx and walks toward the village, hoping to find Luise and Hugo. Lynx runs ahead, but when the protagonist hears him cry out, she finds him whimpering with a bloody mouth. He refuses to keep walking, and when the protagonist leaves him, she walks into something. She discovers a clear, smooth wall. She and Lynx follow the wall, trying to find an end to it, but cannot. Everything on the other side seems frozen. A little further away, the protagonist sees a man crouched to drink from a stream. He is frozen with his hand halfway to his mouth.

Lynx and the protagonist return to the lodge and the protagonist realizes that something catastrophic has happened. She realizes that every living creature outside of the wall must be dead, and wonders if anyone will come for her. She feels thankful that Hugo, anxious about nuclear war, stocked the lodge with supplies. She finds food, tools, and even a hunting rifle.

Over the next few days, the protagonist sets out with Lynx to mark the wall’s border with sticks. They stumble across a group of dead cows outside the wall. Behind them, they hear mooing, and a cow, badly in need of being milked, approaches them. The protagonist milks her, and Lynx laps up the milk. She brings the cow back to the lodge and makes a cow shed out of a nearby hut. She names the cow Bella.

The protagonist creates a routine for herself, caring for Bella and planting fields of potatoes and beans she finds in Hugo’s supplies. It takes her some time to adjust to the work, but she passes the spring without obsessing over the wall. One night, a violent storm rolls in, and a cat appears at the lodge’s door, joining her growing family of animals. At first, the cat and Lynx are wary of each other, but the cat soon accepts him.

With the good weather, the protagonist takes time to explore the area within the wall. One day, she walks up the mountain and finds an Alm, an alpine pasture, and finds more supplies. The Alm offers more space and hay for Bella.

Soon after the cat’s arrival, the protagonist notices that the cat grows fatter and moody. One night, she finds the cat in the cupboard with two new kittens. One of the kittens is stillborn while the other is fluffy and white, like an Angora cat. The protagonist names the kitten Pearl and watches as she grows into a gentle cat. The protagonist worries for Pearl, believing that she will suffer if she goes out into the woods.

Autumn arrives and the protagonist harvests her crops. A foehn, a warm wind, blows through the forest, agitating the protagonist. The cat and Pearl also grow restless, and go out into the forest. Though the cat returns soon after, Pearl is nowhere to be seen for days. Finally, she returns, seriously injured, and before the protagonist can reach her, dies.

The protagonist struggles with the loss of Pearl, feeling responsible for the animals and devastated by the loss of one she loved. To prepare for winter, the protagonist harvests hay from a nearby meadow and chops wood for fires. Throughout the winter, the protagonist limits her activity. Bella becomes pregnant, and the protagonist helps her give birth to a bull.

As winter ends, the foehn returns, and the cat goes back out into the woods. At night, the protagonist can hear animal cries. Months later, the cat gives birth to a new litter of kittens, though only one survives. The protagonist names the kitten Tiger. Tiger is rambunctious; his mother grows annoyed with him, but Tiger bonds with the protagonist.

The protagonist decides to take the animals to the Alm for the summer. There is more space and better grass for the cows. She plants her crops and packs her essentials. She puts the cats in boxes and ties them to Bella. They make the trip up the mountain, and when they arrive, the protagonist can tell the cows are happy. The cats do not appreciate being moved and hide during the day. The cat soon leaves, and the protagonist, though she believes the cat returned to the lodge, worries about her. She adjusts to a new routine at the Alm, just as Tiger adjusts to his new home.

Throughout the summer, the protagonist returns to the lodge to tend her crops and harvest the meadow so that Bella and her calf, Bull, will have food for the winter. Every time she visits, she looks for the cat, but never sees her, though there is an imprint in the cat’s favorite spot on the bed. The protagonist finishes harvesting the meadow and brings the animals back to the hunting lodge, where the cat is ecstatic to see her.

Tiger and the cat grow restless and go out into the woods. Even Bull seems restless, and the protagonist realizes that he is maturing. She thinks he may be a threat to Bella, though she hopes he will give her another calf. The protagonist moves Bull to the garage, though she occasionally brings him to Bella once Bella starts calling for him. Tiger does not return, and when the protagonist takes Lynx to look for him, they lose his scent at a stream. The protagonist again mourns the loss of a cat.

She considers giving up, but feels responsible for the animals. She thinks she may one day dig her way under the wall, and decides to make it big enough for the animals to follow her. She thinks of the deer, that she only kills when she must for food, not wanting to doom them to starvation.

Winter comes and the cat is once again pregnant, but only gives birth to stillborn kittens. The cat then falls seriously ill, and the protagonist nurses her. After this, the protagonist falls ill herself. She spends days in bed with feverish hallucinations. When she finally recovers, she sees that Lynx seems lost since she stopped spending time with him, and recommits to her routine and the animals.

When summer arrives, the protagonist takes the animals back to the Alm. She once again splits her time, working to harvest the meadow by the lodge and cultivate her potatoes. Bull continues to grow, and the protagonist is in awe of him. She misses Tiger, and expects to see him in the Alm. One day, she sees a man with an ax outside the lodge, standing over a now-dead Bull. Lynx rushes at the man and the protagonist goes inside to grab her rifle. The man kills Lynx, and the protagonist kills the man with one shot. She drags the man toward the wall, and leaves his body. She buries Lynx and takes Bella back to the lodge. She leaves Bull, too large to move, in the field.

After this event, the protagonist begins writing her account of her time behind the wall. She not only details her relationship with her animals, but her view of the world outside. She watches from a distance as nature reclaims the village. She considers how her isolation has helped her connect with nature and allowed her to reconsider her identity. She concludes that her life and worldview were defined by society, and only now, in its absence, does she learn who she is. She considers her future, unsure if anyone will read her account, and believes she will one day dig under the wall.