The Sandman
E. T. A. Hoffmann

1.  “Cetainly you must…wherever he appeared”  Why is Nathaniel in despair?  How does the story of the Sandman, which the old woman told him when he was young, relate to the child’s desires to see Coppelius?   How does Coppelius treat the children?  How do his actions affect the relation between father and children?  What role does “seeing” play in the children’s reaction to their father’s and to Coppelius’s different ways of treating the children?  

2.  “I was riveted… Farewell”   How does the combined “work” of Coppelius and the father change the latter’s appearance?  How do you interpret Coppelius’s unscrewing and re-screwing Nathanel’s hands?   How does this change Nathanel’s relation to his father (think of the effect of Coppelius on the children at the dinner table)?  How do you explain Coppelius’s effect on Nathaniel’s life and eyes:  all seems colorless; life a “gloomy veil of clouds,” he says ?  When Nathaniel sees the barometer-maker and optician, he discovers Coppelius and decides to avenge his father’s death.  What effects on himself is he avenging?

3.  “It is true….polished mirror” What is Clara’s and Lothaire’s interpretation of Nathaniel’s story?  According to this interpretation, what does the story of Coppelius and his father’s death say about Nathaniel’s own mind and about the inner desires of human beings in general?  How does the fictional “author” (who is publishing the letters of Nathaniel and Clara) interpret Nathaniel’s experience?

4.  “So it was… begin at all” Summarize and interpret the debate between Nathaniel and Clara.  Why does he call her an automatic (mechanical human being)?  Which of the two seems to be out of control and repeating the same thing?  How does this affect each person’s desire for the other?  Explain. 

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5.   “How surprised…noble mind’” How does the looking glass that Nathaniel buys from Coppola make him see Olympia?  When he sees her through the glasses at the dance and when he dances with her how do his “eyes” transform her?  In other words, what does he first perceive, then what does come to think and feel about her?  What is the importance of her eyes for him?   Why does Nathaniel, who, after seeing Coppelius with his father, saw a colorless world, now see a colorful world?  In other words, how does Coppelius’s theft of eyes relate to Coppola’s selling of “eyes.” 

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6.   “One day Sigismund … [end of story] Nathaniel tells his friend that he sees his real self in his love of Olympia.   But Coppelius has given the automaton, Olympia, eyes that see nothing, and Spalanzani has given it a clockwork that dictates her words and actions, but cannot love.   When Nathaniel discovers that Olympia is an automaton, what does that discovery reveal about what he really desires in Olympia?  How would he now see himself in her if he did not go mad? How do Coppelius and Coppola take away Nathaniel’s eyes through this story?  What seems to lead Nathaniel to kill himself, while saying “Oh, pretty eyes, pretty eyes” (think of both Coppelius and Coppela)?