Johannes Pinneberg is the novel’s protagonist. He is not particularly attractive, intelligent, rich, poor, or ambitious. Instead, his story functions as a way in which to chart the fate of an unremarkable man during a remarkable period in history. The collapse of the Weimar Republic, the hyperinflation of the German mark, and The Rise of the Nazi Party are historic events that contrast with the relatively mundane existence of a young man who gets his lover pregnant and tries to make a life with her in difficult circumstances. Johannes may lack ambitions but, once he learns that Emma is pregnant, he begins to develop a view toward his future. He seeks to adhere to traditional gender roles as the male provider and the head of the household, even though Economic Collapse and Societal Breakdown make his efforts almost impossible. His struggles to conform to social expectations illustrate the extent to which society is collapsing.

Johannes always sells his labor to his bourgeois bosses, but he believes his status as an office worker gives him some elevation above blue-collar laborers. Despite how important this status is to Johannes, he always feels like an imposter.