The theme of our short story “The Balek Scales” is the social injustice between the rich and the poor.

What The Balek Scales Symbolize?

What do the Balek Scales represent in “The Balek Scales”? The bales scales are supposed to represent justice, but we find out later that they are actually a symbol of injustice.

What is the setting of The Balek Scales?

The story takes place in a small village in aristocrat Germany, the forest surrounding the village and neighboring villages, as well as the Balek’s mansion.

When was The Balek Scales written?

The Balek Scales – Heinrich Böll, 1993.

What happens in the Balek scales?

In “The Balek Scales,” a young boy in West Germany experiences the sensations brought about by the necessity of verity. Upon discovering the truth behind an oppressive illusion created by the aristocracy, the boy is determined to reveal its injustice.

What is the summary of the story the Balek scales?

The story “The Balek Scales” by Heinrich Böll tells the experience of the narrator’s grandfather in the village upon which the Balek family had a firm grip.

What is the Balek family?

The Balek family, later known as Balek von Biligan, is part of the elite class, as the following quote describes: “the family who lived in the chateau and drove two carriages, who always maintained one boy from the village while he studied theology at the seminary in Prague” (Böll 15-16).

What is Böll’s Balek scale?

Heinrich Böll’s stor,y The Balek Scales, entails a seemingly unending battle between the rich and the poor as the latter would usually rise against the injustices that the former inflicts upon them and the society. However, it seems that the rich are too powerful and influential to be folded easily.

What is the injustice that grandfather claims in front of Frau Balek?

As the line states, the injustice that the narrator’s grandfather claims in front of Frau Balek von Biligan is the unequal or unfair measurement that the scales present for their foraged goods—mushrooms, herbs, and the like. Inevitably, the injustice results in a short bloody revolt with the Reeve’s gendarmes overpowering the population.