Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver
Encyclopedia
Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (original title: Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer) is a German
children's novel written by Michael Ende
. Published in 1960, it became one of the most successful German children's books in the postwar era after having first been rejected by a dozen publishers. It received the German Young Literature Prize
in 1961 and has been translated into 33 languages. Its huge success later spawned the sequel Jim Button and the Wild 13 (original title: Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13).
Ende, who grew up in Nazi Germany
, was in the Hitler Jugend and whose father, Edgar Ende
, a painter, was banned as "degenerate
" in 1936, began writing the story in 1956 to provide a contrast to the Nazis' racist ideology
and their misuse of the theory of evolution. In a 1991 radio interview, he stated, "The idea of racism and racial discrimination came from further consideration of Darwin's theories." Quoting Nazi euphemisms, he added, "The 'extermination of lives unworthy of life' and 'concentration camps'."
Ende did not see his book as a children's book, but just wrote it for himself. He based the title character on Jemmy Button
, a native Fuegian
who, as a teenager in the 19th century, was sold for a mother-of-pearl button and taken to England. He later returned to his homeland on the HMS Beagle
, by way of the Galapagos Islands
, along with fellow passenger Charles Darwin
, who later wrote about the episode.
That Ende's book was full of Nazi symbols turned on their head, and that its English references stemmed from his interest in Darwin was unknown until late 2008, when Julia Voss
, a German journalist, published an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
revealing the story's background. Voss cites aspects of Ende's book and of English colonialism, showing their similarity. Her examples of Nazi education and indoctrination, as well as information about Ende's own experiences with it, reveal the sources that inspired him.
, a small house, a king, three subjects, a locomotive named Emma, and a locomotive engineer by the name of Luke (Lukas). One day, the postman - who has to come by ship – drops off a package with a nearly illegible address for a Mrs. Krintuuth at Zorroulend. On the back was a large 13. After a futile search for the addressee among Morrowland's few inhabitants, they open the package. To their immense surprise, there's a black baby inside. After the commotion has died down, the baby is adopted by the islanders and is named Jim Button.
As Jim grows up, the King begins to worry that the island is too small and there won't be enough space for Jim to live there once he's an adult. He announces to Luke that Emma has to be removed. Luke, upset about this decision, decides to leave the island with Emma, and Jim (who had accidentally overheard Luke relating his woes to Emma) decides to come along. They convert Emma into a makeshift ship and sail off the island in the night, eventually arriving at the coast of China.
When they arrive in Ping, the capital, they win the friendship of a tiny great-grandchild named Ping Pong, who tells them the Emperor is in mourning. His daughter, Li Si, has been kidnapped and is being held in the Dragon City. Luke and Jim offer their help, and while investigating the circumstances of Li Si's disappearance, they stumble upon several names which are directly connected to Jim's mysterious arrival on Morrowland, Mrs. Grindtooth (Frau Mahlzahn), the Wild 13, and Sorrowland (Kummerland). Now Jim and Luke have another reason to go to the Dragon City, located in Sorrowland, and confront Mrs. Grindtooth.
After a long and hazardous journey, they arrive in the Dragon City. Along the way, they make two new friends, the giant Mr. Tur Tur (who is actually a "Scheinriese" – he only appears to be a giant), and Nepomuk, the half-dragon. Jim and Luke free Princess Li Si and a large number of children, who had all been kidnapped and sold to Mrs. Grindtooth by a gang of pirates (the Wild 13). Mrs. Grindtooth had chained the children to desks at her school, where she had barked lessons to them like a kommandant. Jim and Luke take Mrs. Grindtooth with them as they make their way back on the Yellow River
, which begins right at the Dragon City. Arriving back in China, they receive a triumphal welcome and are surprised by some startling news. Mrs. Grindtooth is about to turn into the Golden Dragon of Wisdom, and the other inhabitants of Morrowland want them back on the island!
With parting advice given by the now-reformed Mrs. Grindtooth and generous assistance from the Emperor, Luke and Jim come into possession of a floating island. After a cordial welcome back on Morrowland, Jim and Li Si become engaged, and Jim gets a small locomotive for his own, which he names Molly.
, and legendary ones, such as the magnetic cliffs in the Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
and a beautiful abandoned city under the sea, patterned after Atlantis
. China is depicted in a phantasmic way; in later German editions, the country name was changed to Mandala.
In Morrowland, people lead an old-fashioned, idyllic life, albeit with modern conveniences. The rest of the world, however, is full of fantasy. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
wrote, children read Jim Button at a time in their lives when "the existence of dragons is as real as dinosaurs and kings [are] closer than the chancellor". The contrast between reality and fantasy is reflected in several places. In Morrowland, Jim is a normal child. He plays outside and doesn't like to wash; his mother sometimes worries about him. Outside Morrowland, however, he goes on adventures, experiences exotic cultures, fights a dragon and finally, saves a princess.
Following the events in Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver, life in Morrowland continues as usual for a year until the postman rams New-Morrowland with his mail boat in the dark of night. It is decided that the island needs a lighthouse, but it is too small to support one. Jim remembers Mr. Tur Tur and his ability to appear as a giant when seen from afar, and Jim and Luke decide to invite him to Morrowland to use his unique ability as a living lighthouse.
While sailing the oceans with Emma and Molly (Jim's locomotive) to get to the desert where Mr. Tur Tur lives, Jim and Luke stop to help out a mermaid
named Sursulapitschi and her father, Lormoral, the king of the seas. This leads to a precarious encounter with the Magnetic Cliffs. The magnetic pull can be turned of and on. When on, they activate a phenomenon called the Sea Glow, which illuminates the bottom of the sea, but also activates the magnetic pull, endangering passing ships. Someone must be found to ensure that no ships are endangered while the Sea Glow is switched on. In addition, Sursulapitschi is distressed because her fiancee, a "Schildnöck" (turtle man) named Ushaurishuum, has been assigned by her father to refashion the Crystal of Eternity, a task only possible with the aid of a creature of fire, with whom the merpeople are at war.
Using the special properties of the cliffs' material, Jim and Luke convert Emma into a flying vehicle which they dub the "Perpetumobile
" due to its unlimited means of locomotion. With it, they cross the Crown of the World to get Mr. Tur Tur. To their surprise, they encounter their half-dragon friend Nepomuk, who had had to flee the Dragon City following the events (in the first book) for his help capturing Mrs. Grindtooth) in the desert. Jim and Luke persuade Nepomuk to accompany them and take up the post at the Magnetic Cliffs. Unexpectedly, the four meet Sursulapitschi and Ushaurishuum at the cliffs, and the Schildnöck and Nepomuk quickly become friends, enabling the recreation of the Crystal of Eternity.
Meanwhile, Jim's locomotive Molly, who Jim and Luke had left at the cliffs when getting Mr. Tur Tur and Nepomuk, has been abducted by a band of pirates called the Wild 13. Luckily for Jim and Luke, the former Mrs. Grindtooth awakes as a Golden Dragon of Wisdom in China and can help them out with information. She tells Jim how to find out about his origin. With the help of the Chinese emperor, Jim and Luke – with Princess Li Si as a stowaway – start their journey to meet the Wild 13 and rescue Molly. They encounter the pirates, who prove to be too much for them in battle. Molly is lost at sea and all but Jim are captured and brought to the pirates' base, Castle Stormeye, a pinnacle of rock in the eye of a perpetual hurricane.
Unseen, Jim manages to sneak into the pirates' fortress, overpower them with a trick and some luck, and become their leader. As it turns out, Jim is the last descendant of Caspar, the third of the Three Kings, whose heirs were doomed to be homeless after Mrs. Grindtooth sank their kingdom beneath the ocean millennia ago. Only the sinking of Castle Stormeye will raise it up again. In the end, the Wild 13 sacrifice their fortress, and Jim's old kingdom reappears. To everyone's surprise, Morrowland is located at the top of the realm's highest mountain.
All the families whose children Jim and Luke had rescued from the Dragon City come to live in the new country. Jim marries Li Si and receives Molly from the merpeople, her iron frame transformed into the Crystal of Eternity. The Wild 13, reformed by their sacrifice, remain in Jim's kingdom as its protectors and royal guards.
Darwin's first book, The Voyage of the Beagle
, contains passages about Jemmy Button
, a teenaged native Fuegian who was sold for a mother-of-pearl button and brought to England, an island nation. Darwin describes Button's character and demeanor and relates details about his capture and sale, explaining his unusual name, and about his return to his homeland, two years later.There were three other young Fuegians captured along with Jemmy Button, given unusual English names and brought to England. One died shortly after arriving in England. The other two were returned to their home along with Jemmy Button. (See "The Return of Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, and York Minster")
and Morrowland's mail arrives by ship.
English culture also appears in the character of Mr. Sleeve, who, like the stereotypical Englishman, wears a bowler and carries an umbrella, is polite and well educated. His unusual name in the original German, Herr Ärmel, is a reference to the Ärmelkanal, the German name for the British Channel.
's Totenkopfverbände, and she terrorizes the children with a baton and teaches them lessons on eugenics
and racial purity. The dragon's pupils have all been kidnapped, brought there against their will.
Recalling the anti-semitic signs seen on entrances during Nazi Germany, the Dragon City announces its racial policy at the city's entrance with a sign that reads, "Attention! Entry by racially impure dragons forbidden on pain of death."This quote is translated from a German article, rather than the book's English translation, which may be slightly different. Ende spent the summer of 1943 visiting his grandparents in Hamburg
, when the allies' serial bombing raids
, caused firestorm
s and damage so catastrophic, the Nazis furlough
ed 2,000 prisoners for two months. Ende paints the Dragon City as a smoldering "land of a thousand volcanos", a hell
ish place. The entrance to the city looks like a smoking oven, which the protagonist
s enter on a train. Nepomuk, who is only half dragon, is not allowed by the racially pure dragons to enter the Dragon City. At one point, he is upset and embarrassed that he is unable to rekindle his volcano. In the original German, he calls this a schande, a word with Nazi overtones from the word rassenschande
, miscegenation
.
The myth of Atlantis had a special meaning to the Nazis, who held that Atlantis was the ancient homeland of the Aryan
race. Children's books were imbued with Nazi racial policies and Atlantis was mentioned in many. Sun Koh, the hero of a science fiction
series, complains in a story from 1935 that the races were not kept pure, except in Germany, where a methodical racial policy was breeding the nordic roots again. Koh says, "If our Atlantis once again rises out of the sea, then we will get from there the blond, steel-hard men
with the pure blood and will create with them the master race
, which will finally rule the earth." Ende brings this scenario about, only with the decidedly non-blond Jim Button as king and Ende creates a multi-ethnic and -cultural paradise, a utopia
where people from every corner of the earth, and even birds, flock to it because there is no fear there.
, a marionette
theater company that adapted children's stories for television in the 1960s and 70s. Their production of Jim Button, first filmed in the early 1960s in black and white, was so successful, it was remade in the 1970s in color. A classic known for its creativity, such as the use of plastic wrap
to simulate moving water, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011 with much fanfare. Its theme song is immediately recognized and in the 1990s, was covered by a German dance music group and itself became a hit.The group, Dolls United, made remix
es from the songs of popular children's programs from earlier decades. There are two sets of original marionettes for the Jim Button production. One is in the Puppenkiste's museum and the other tours the world.
In 1974, the story was turned into a Japanese animation. A dramatized audio book, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (Fontana
/Deutsche Grammophon
was narrated and directed by Ende himself. In 1996, a 52-episode cartoon series was created as a German-French co-production. The storyline diverged from the original novels with the introduction of new characters and settings.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
children's novel written by Michael Ende
Michael Ende
Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende was a German author of fantasy and children's literature. He is best known for his epic fantasy work The Neverending Story; other famous works include Momo and Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver...
. Published in 1960, it became one of the most successful German children's books in the postwar era after having first been rejected by a dozen publishers. It received the German Young Literature Prize
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
The Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's literature. It is Germany's only state-funded literary award. In the past, authors from many countries...
in 1961 and has been translated into 33 languages. Its huge success later spawned the sequel Jim Button and the Wild 13 (original title: Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13).
Ende, who grew up in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, was in the Hitler Jugend and whose father, Edgar Ende
Edgar Ende
Edgar Karl Alfons Ende was a German surrealist painter and father of the children's novelist Michael Ende....
, a painter, was banned as "degenerate
Degenerate art
Degenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were...
" in 1936, began writing the story in 1956 to provide a contrast to the Nazis' racist ideology
Nazism and race
Nazism developed several theories concerning races. The Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy of human race; at the top was the master race, the "Aryan race", narrowly defined by the Nazis as being identical with the Nordic race, followed by lesser races.At the bottom of this...
and their misuse of the theory of evolution. In a 1991 radio interview, he stated, "The idea of racism and racial discrimination came from further consideration of Darwin's theories." Quoting Nazi euphemisms, he added, "The 'extermination of lives unworthy of life' and 'concentration camps'."
Ende did not see his book as a children's book, but just wrote it for himself. He based the title character on Jemmy Button
Jemmy Button
Orundellico, known as "Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button", was a native Fuegian of the Yaghan people from islands around Tierra del Fuego, in modern Chile and Argentina...
, a native Fuegian
Fuegians
Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. In English, the term originally referred to the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego...
who, as a teenager in the 19th century, was sold for a mother-of-pearl button and taken to England. He later returned to his homeland on the HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
, by way of the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
, along with fellow passenger Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, who later wrote about the episode.
That Ende's book was full of Nazi symbols turned on their head, and that its English references stemmed from his interest in Darwin was unknown until late 2008, when Julia Voss
Julia Voss
Julia Voss is a German journalist and scientific historian. She is a writer and art critic at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.- Biography :...
, a German journalist, published an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
revealing the story's background. Voss cites aspects of Ende's book and of English colonialism, showing their similarity. Her examples of Nazi education and indoctrination, as well as information about Ende's own experiences with it, reveal the sources that inspired him.
Plot
The story begins on a tiny island called Morrowland (original German: Lummerland), which has just enough space for a small palace, a train station and rails all around the island, a grocery storeGrocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
, a small house, a king, three subjects, a locomotive named Emma, and a locomotive engineer by the name of Luke (Lukas). One day, the postman - who has to come by ship – drops off a package with a nearly illegible address for a Mrs. Krintuuth at Zorroulend. On the back was a large 13. After a futile search for the addressee among Morrowland's few inhabitants, they open the package. To their immense surprise, there's a black baby inside. After the commotion has died down, the baby is adopted by the islanders and is named Jim Button.
As Jim grows up, the King begins to worry that the island is too small and there won't be enough space for Jim to live there once he's an adult. He announces to Luke that Emma has to be removed. Luke, upset about this decision, decides to leave the island with Emma, and Jim (who had accidentally overheard Luke relating his woes to Emma) decides to come along. They convert Emma into a makeshift ship and sail off the island in the night, eventually arriving at the coast of China.
When they arrive in Ping, the capital, they win the friendship of a tiny great-grandchild named Ping Pong, who tells them the Emperor is in mourning. His daughter, Li Si, has been kidnapped and is being held in the Dragon City. Luke and Jim offer their help, and while investigating the circumstances of Li Si's disappearance, they stumble upon several names which are directly connected to Jim's mysterious arrival on Morrowland, Mrs. Grindtooth (Frau Mahlzahn), the Wild 13, and Sorrowland (Kummerland). Now Jim and Luke have another reason to go to the Dragon City, located in Sorrowland, and confront Mrs. Grindtooth.
After a long and hazardous journey, they arrive in the Dragon City. Along the way, they make two new friends, the giant Mr. Tur Tur (who is actually a "Scheinriese" – he only appears to be a giant), and Nepomuk, the half-dragon. Jim and Luke free Princess Li Si and a large number of children, who had all been kidnapped and sold to Mrs. Grindtooth by a gang of pirates (the Wild 13). Mrs. Grindtooth had chained the children to desks at her school, where she had barked lessons to them like a kommandant. Jim and Luke take Mrs. Grindtooth with them as they make their way back on the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
, which begins right at the Dragon City. Arriving back in China, they receive a triumphal welcome and are surprised by some startling news. Mrs. Grindtooth is about to turn into the Golden Dragon of Wisdom, and the other inhabitants of Morrowland want them back on the island!
With parting advice given by the now-reformed Mrs. Grindtooth and generous assistance from the Emperor, Luke and Jim come into possession of a floating island. After a cordial welcome back on Morrowland, Jim and Li Si become engaged, and Jim gets a small locomotive for his own, which he names Molly.
The Settings
"Morrowland", where the story begins, is a microcosm of early modern society, with a king, a burgher, a merchant, and a worker. The novel and its sequel take place roughly in the 20th century, but have anachronistic elements. China is still an empire, Native American Indians and Eskimos still live in traditional ways, yet there are ocean liners, telephones, a postal service, chewing gum and other modern conveniences. There are many fictional locations, like the "Crown of the World", a vast mountain range coloured in red and white stripes, and the "Magnetic Cliffs". Some locations are based on real places, such as the HimalayasHimalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, and legendary ones, such as the magnetic cliffs in the Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor is a fictional sailor from Basrah, living during the Abbasid Caliphate – the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin...
and a beautiful abandoned city under the sea, patterned after Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
. China is depicted in a phantasmic way; in later German editions, the country name was changed to Mandala.
In Morrowland, people lead an old-fashioned, idyllic life, albeit with modern conveniences. The rest of the world, however, is full of fantasy. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
wrote, children read Jim Button at a time in their lives when "the existence of dragons is as real as dinosaurs and kings [are] closer than the chancellor". The contrast between reality and fantasy is reflected in several places. In Morrowland, Jim is a normal child. He plays outside and doesn't like to wash; his mother sometimes worries about him. Outside Morrowland, however, he goes on adventures, experiences exotic cultures, fights a dragon and finally, saves a princess.
List of Jim Button characters
- Jim Button (Jim Knopf): The titular hero, this character shares the "glory" with and is the sidekick of his best friend Luke, the engine driver. He grows up on Morrowland (Lummerland in German) under the care of Mrs. Whaat. He wants to be an engine driver too, but he later finds out that his destiny is far greater. His name is derived from his habit of tearing a hole in his trousers every time he does something wild. After mending the hole many times, Mrs. Whaat added a button so it could be opened, rather than torn up yet again.
- Luke (Lukas): The engine driver on Morrowland is Jim's closest friend. Where Jim represents adventurous youth, Luke is the man of experience and practicality who manages to solve almost every technical problem. He is very strong and is expert spitter who can spit a loop. His trademark is his pipe, which he smokes in emotional situations.
- Princess Li Si: The daughter of the Chinese Emperor is rather headstrong, especially when it comes to discipline. She admires Jim for his courage and intelligence, even though for most of the story, he refuses to learn how to read and write, skills she has already mastered quite well.
- Emma and Molly: Luke and Jim's tank locomotives. Emma is quite sensitive, expressing her feelings about Luke's mood by whistling and huffing, despite the fact she often does not quite understand the reason for her owner's mood. Molly is smaller and younger.
- Mrs. Whaat (Frau Waas): The proprietor of a grocery store on Morrowland and Jim's surrogate mother. She loves Jim dearly, and worries about him constantly when he is on an adventure. Her special skill is making sweets, particularly ice cream and GugelhupfGugelhupfA Gugelhupf or Gugelhopf is a southern German, Austrian, Swiss and Alsatian term for a marble cake or Bundt cake. The part "Gugel-" is a variation of the Middle High German word Kugel...
.
- King Alfred the Quarter-to-Twelfth (König Alfons der Viertel-vor-Zwölfte): The king of Morrowland, who is named after the stroke of the clock at the time of his birth and at which he shows himself to his subjects on holidays. He is well-meaning, but can get overly nervous under stress.
- Mr. Sleeve (Herr Ärmel): A subject of the King. He is portrayed as a stereotypical Englishman and is most often seen taking a stroll, wearing a bowlerBowler hatThe bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby , billycock or bombin, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the English soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester...
and carrying an umbrella on his arm. He is very polite and educated and is well liked by the island's other inhabitants.
- Mr. Tur Tur: The illusory giant is a gentle and modest person, but tragically alone. When seen from a distance, he appears to be a giant and everyone is frightened. Consequently, he lives on an oasisOasisIn geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
in the desert, "The End of the World". He is a vegetarian, which relieves Nepomuk, who is initially petrified of him and fears he will be eaten.
- Nepomuk: A half-dragon by birth (his mother was a hippopotamusHippopotamusThe hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
), he bears some resemblance to his mother. Like his fellow mixed-race dragons, he is not accepted by the pure-blood dragons in Sorrowland. He tries to behave like a "real" dragon by being scary and mean, but he is neither. He is, however, able to help Ushaurishuum create the Crystal of Eternity.
- Ping Pong: A very young and tiny Chinese boy whose head is the size of a ping pong ball. Hardly more than a year old and no taller than a man's hand, he is already very capable of behaving and thinking like an adult.This stereotypical depiction of the Chinese is common in the story. The country called China in the first editions of the book was later changed to "Mandala", presumably because of the negative Chinese stereotypes. The 1990 English translation, reverts back to "China", however. (Athenea Bell, Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY) He is one of the numerous descendants of the Emperor's chief cook; after saving Jim and Luke from a treacherous minister, he is made Prime Minister of China by the Emperor - a role which he fulfills surprisingly capably.
- Mrs. Grindtooth (Frau Mahlzahn): A pure-blood dragon and the main villainess of the story. Her name comes from her single fang projecting from her long snout. She is very knowledgeable, but like all dragons, likes to torment lesser beings with her power. She runs a school for human children in Sorrowland.
- The Wild 13 (Die Wilde Dreizehn): A band of pirates completely identical in appearance and ability. Fearsome pirates and seamen, they are not particularly bright and they are poorly educated, each of them knowing only one particular letter of the alphabet. They are always in need of a leader. First portrayed as antagonists, they evolve into important characters and plot carriers in the sequel.
Jim Button and the Wild 13
Jim Button and the Wild 13 (original German title: Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13) is the sequel and concludes the story.Following the events in Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver, life in Morrowland continues as usual for a year until the postman rams New-Morrowland with his mail boat in the dark of night. It is decided that the island needs a lighthouse, but it is too small to support one. Jim remembers Mr. Tur Tur and his ability to appear as a giant when seen from afar, and Jim and Luke decide to invite him to Morrowland to use his unique ability as a living lighthouse.
While sailing the oceans with Emma and Molly (Jim's locomotive) to get to the desert where Mr. Tur Tur lives, Jim and Luke stop to help out a mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
named Sursulapitschi and her father, Lormoral, the king of the seas. This leads to a precarious encounter with the Magnetic Cliffs. The magnetic pull can be turned of and on. When on, they activate a phenomenon called the Sea Glow, which illuminates the bottom of the sea, but also activates the magnetic pull, endangering passing ships. Someone must be found to ensure that no ships are endangered while the Sea Glow is switched on. In addition, Sursulapitschi is distressed because her fiancee, a "Schildnöck" (turtle man) named Ushaurishuum, has been assigned by her father to refashion the Crystal of Eternity, a task only possible with the aid of a creature of fire, with whom the merpeople are at war.
Using the special properties of the cliffs' material, Jim and Luke convert Emma into a flying vehicle which they dub the "Perpetumobile
Perpetual motion
Perpetual motion describes hypothetical machines that operate or produce useful work indefinitely and, more generally, hypothetical machines that produce more work or energy than they consume, whether they might operate indefinitely or not....
" due to its unlimited means of locomotion. With it, they cross the Crown of the World to get Mr. Tur Tur. To their surprise, they encounter their half-dragon friend Nepomuk, who had had to flee the Dragon City following the events (in the first book) for his help capturing Mrs. Grindtooth) in the desert. Jim and Luke persuade Nepomuk to accompany them and take up the post at the Magnetic Cliffs. Unexpectedly, the four meet Sursulapitschi and Ushaurishuum at the cliffs, and the Schildnöck and Nepomuk quickly become friends, enabling the recreation of the Crystal of Eternity.
Meanwhile, Jim's locomotive Molly, who Jim and Luke had left at the cliffs when getting Mr. Tur Tur and Nepomuk, has been abducted by a band of pirates called the Wild 13. Luckily for Jim and Luke, the former Mrs. Grindtooth awakes as a Golden Dragon of Wisdom in China and can help them out with information. She tells Jim how to find out about his origin. With the help of the Chinese emperor, Jim and Luke – with Princess Li Si as a stowaway – start their journey to meet the Wild 13 and rescue Molly. They encounter the pirates, who prove to be too much for them in battle. Molly is lost at sea and all but Jim are captured and brought to the pirates' base, Castle Stormeye, a pinnacle of rock in the eye of a perpetual hurricane.
Unseen, Jim manages to sneak into the pirates' fortress, overpower them with a trick and some luck, and become their leader. As it turns out, Jim is the last descendant of Caspar, the third of the Three Kings, whose heirs were doomed to be homeless after Mrs. Grindtooth sank their kingdom beneath the ocean millennia ago. Only the sinking of Castle Stormeye will raise it up again. In the end, the Wild 13 sacrifice their fortress, and Jim's old kingdom reappears. To everyone's surprise, Morrowland is located at the top of the realm's highest mountain.
All the families whose children Jim and Luke had rescued from the Dragon City come to live in the new country. Jim marries Li Si and receives Molly from the merpeople, her iron frame transformed into the Crystal of Eternity. The Wild 13, reformed by their sacrifice, remain in Jim's kingdom as its protectors and royal guards.
Literary references
Voss' 2008 article explained that Ende's book was not the "escapist literature" of pure fantasy, as had always been assumed, in part from Ende's own frequent warnings about hiding messages in books. Voss identified numerous literary references in the book, some which reverse the Nazi indoctrination of Ende's youth and others, which stem from his interest in Darwin and draw on English culture and history.Darwin's first book, The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect...
, contains passages about Jemmy Button
Jemmy Button
Orundellico, known as "Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button", was a native Fuegian of the Yaghan people from islands around Tierra del Fuego, in modern Chile and Argentina...
, a teenaged native Fuegian who was sold for a mother-of-pearl button and brought to England, an island nation. Darwin describes Button's character and demeanor and relates details about his capture and sale, explaining his unusual name, and about his return to his homeland, two years later.There were three other young Fuegians captured along with Jemmy Button, given unusual English names and brought to England. One died shortly after arriving in England. The other two were returned to their home along with Jemmy Button. (See "The Return of Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, and York Minster")
British references
Like the real-life Jemmy Button, Ende's Jim Button is brought to an island nation and is seen by the inhabitants as racially exotic, but is quickly accepted and becomes well liked. Shipping, which during England's colonial era, began bringing goods from around the globe, also plays an important role in Morrowland. Mrs. Whaat's grocery store is supplied from all corners of world once a week by Ende's own version of the Royal Mail Steam Packet CompanyRoyal Mail Steam Packet Company
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by Scot James Macqueen. After good and bad times it became the largest shipping group in the world in 1927 when it took over the White Star Line....
and Morrowland's mail arrives by ship.
English culture also appears in the character of Mr. Sleeve, who, like the stereotypical Englishman, wears a bowler and carries an umbrella, is polite and well educated. His unusual name in the original German, Herr Ärmel, is a reference to the Ärmelkanal, the German name for the British Channel.
Nazi symbols revisited
Ende's Jim refuses to learn to read or write, harking back to Ende's own experience with Nazi education and indoctrination, which he regarded with horror. Said Ende, "I didn't want to learn, at least not what they endeavored to teach us there." Voss explains that subjects like German, history and geography took a back seat to biology, where the need for racial purity was drummed into pupils on official order. Quoting from Nazi literature, Voss writes, "no boy or girl should leave school without having been led to the ultimate cognition of the imperative need [for] and essence of racial purity." Ende's school in Sorrowland is run by a dragon who has a skull on her door, reminding of Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
's Totenkopfverbände, and she terrorizes the children with a baton and teaches them lessons on eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
and racial purity. The dragon's pupils have all been kidnapped, brought there against their will.
Recalling the anti-semitic signs seen on entrances during Nazi Germany, the Dragon City announces its racial policy at the city's entrance with a sign that reads, "Attention! Entry by racially impure dragons forbidden on pain of death."This quote is translated from a German article, rather than the book's English translation, which may be slightly different. Ende spent the summer of 1943 visiting his grandparents in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, when the allies' serial bombing raids
Bombing of Hamburg in World War II
The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous strategic bombing missions and diversion/nuisance raids. As a large port and industrial center, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war...
, caused firestorm
Firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires...
s and damage so catastrophic, the Nazis furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
ed 2,000 prisoners for two months. Ende paints the Dragon City as a smoldering "land of a thousand volcanos", a hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
ish place. The entrance to the city looks like a smoking oven, which the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
s enter on a train. Nepomuk, who is only half dragon, is not allowed by the racially pure dragons to enter the Dragon City. At one point, he is upset and embarrassed that he is unable to rekindle his volcano. In the original German, he calls this a schande, a word with Nazi overtones from the word rassenschande
Rassenschande
Rassenschande or Blutschande was the Nazi term for sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans, which was punishable by law...
, miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
.
The myth of Atlantis had a special meaning to the Nazis, who held that Atlantis was the ancient homeland of the Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
race. Children's books were imbued with Nazi racial policies and Atlantis was mentioned in many. Sun Koh, the hero of a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series, complains in a story from 1935 that the races were not kept pure, except in Germany, where a methodical racial policy was breeding the nordic roots again. Koh says, "If our Atlantis once again rises out of the sea, then we will get from there the blond, steel-hard men
Man (word)
The term man and words derived from it can designate any or even all of the human race regardless of their sex or age...
with the pure blood and will create with them the master race
Master race
Master race was a phrase and concept originating in the slave-holding Southern US. The later phrase Herrenvolk , interpreted as 'master race', was a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic peoples, one of the branches of what in the late-19th and early-20th century was called the Aryan race,...
, which will finally rule the earth." Ende brings this scenario about, only with the decidedly non-blond Jim Button as king and Ende creates a multi-ethnic and -cultural paradise, a utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
where people from every corner of the earth, and even birds, flock to it because there is no fear there.
Adaptations
Both Jim Button stories were adapted by the Augsburger PuppenkisteAugsburger Puppenkiste
The Augsburger Puppenkiste is a marionette theater in Augsburg, Germany.It is located at the former Heilig-Geist-Spital in the historic center of Augsburg. Since 1948, the "Augsburger Puppenkiste" had been producing theatrical adaptations of fairy tales and serious pieces...
, a marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
theater company that adapted children's stories for television in the 1960s and 70s. Their production of Jim Button, first filmed in the early 1960s in black and white, was so successful, it was remade in the 1970s in color. A classic known for its creativity, such as the use of plastic wrap
Plastic wrap
Plastic wrap, cling film , cling wrap or food wrap, is a thin plastic film typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh over a longer period of time...
to simulate moving water, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011 with much fanfare. Its theme song is immediately recognized and in the 1990s, was covered by a German dance music group and itself became a hit.The group, Dolls United, made remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es from the songs of popular children's programs from earlier decades. There are two sets of original marionettes for the Jim Button production. One is in the Puppenkiste's museum and the other tours the world.
In 1974, the story was turned into a Japanese animation. A dramatized audio book, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (Fontana
Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
/Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
was narrated and directed by Ende himself. In 1996, a 52-episode cartoon series was created as a German-French co-production. The storyline diverged from the original novels with the introduction of new characters and settings.
See also
- Roland Freisler a Nazi judge who wanted to codify rassenschande as "racial treason"
External links
- Jim Knopf official website. Retrieved August 4, 2011
- Brief biography of Michael Ende Retrieved August 4, 2011
- Still photo of Augsburger Puppenkiste's use of cling film to simulate water Marionettes Emma (outfitted as a boat), with Sursulapitschi (floating), Luke and Jim Button. Retrieved August 4, 2011
- Video clip from Augsburger Puppenkiste's 1970's remake Retrieved August 4, 2011