How Does Inflation Affect Emma's Life

The private lives of Johannes and Emma, who are also known as Sonny and Lammchen, In Little Man, What Now? By Hans Fallada, quickly become affected once Emma finds out she is pregnant. Their lives are affected in a multitude of ways such as in political and economic ways. Inflation is one of the problems they face along with unemployment and the inability to save some of the earnings. The couple faces many obstacles and issues throughout their early years as a couple. They are trying to make the best of their lives during this economic crisis.
The private lives of Johannes and Emma are affected greatly by inflation. Pay is low and the cost of living has increased drastically. In the beginning of the novel Emma and Johannes pay a visit to the
Johannes used to work as a bookkeeper, and then he went on to be a salesman of men’s clothing, that came to an end due to a quarrel with the merchants’ wife. Luckily he has been given a job offer to work as a local grain merchant. In order for him to have this job and keep it, he is expected to marry the owner’s daughter. Cleary impossible due to his marriage to Emma, he keeps his marriage a secret from his employer and keeps the fact his employer doesn’t know he is married a secret from his wife. Johannes does all he can to keep his wife happy; Emma’s father does not approve of people like Johannes and finds himself to be superior to him. Emma’s father is a social democrat and a union man and thinks very highly of himself. This pushes Johannes to do all he can to prove that he can take care of his daughter and is not below him. He then quits his job because he has no intention of marrying the employer’s daughter. The expectation to marry his daughter if he wants to keep the job is impossible. Manipulation to get what one wanted was very prevalent in that time due to the high demand in having a job. (Fallada
They move in with Johannes’ stepmother and her husband. His stepmother had promised Johannes a job in Mandel’s department store. His stepmother claimed her husband could get him the job due to his political standing. And so he did get the job. This shows how much political influence was involved with employment and how if u knew the right people you could get what you needed. Life in Berlin does not get any better, they need to pay rent to live in the room in his step mothers house and can barely make the payments. This put a strain on their ability to save money for the future. Germany’s welfare system was able to provide some help. They later apply for the nursing-mother allowance. Emma will be able to earn this once the child is born. There is a lot of paperwork to be filled out and turns into a big burocratic mess (Fallada 1933). The government back then gave money to pregnant woman and mothers. Money was given to them starting four weeks before the woman gave birth up until six weeks after the woman had given birth. Nursing mothers would receive half of the amount given for twelve weeks (Wunderlich 128). They do receive the money for nursing mothers. Emma found the experience rather tiring and due to that she decides that for the next election she will vote communist. After Johannes is hired in Mandel’s department store, he comes across a group of men. These men were unemployed,