The Safety Net

[1] In particular it explores the way that he is subjected to a huge amount of security as a result of his position (he is held in a house overridden by police surveillance and lives in fear of terrorist violence from the left-wing underground) and the effect that this has on him and his family - his wife, Kathe, his daughter Sabine, and his sons Herbert and Rolf.

[3] Böll's work focuses upon the question of how well post-war German society operated, specifically through its embrace of capitalism and the globalised free market.

At that point many conservatives, particularly associated with the Springer publishing concern, were urging a crackdown on public order that would involve a stringent limitation of civil liberties.

Tolm is represented as a markedly unambitious figure, despite his ascension to the position in the "Association", and is motivated by fear of other companies taking over his industry (such as Zummerling).

Gaus felt that while "Trash novels are written every day about the beleaguered lives of high corporate execs," The Safety Net "is a contemporary art work in every way, and one notable for its avoidance of easy choices.