The Concept of Rebellion in Christopher Isherwood’s "Goodbye to Berlin"

The present study deals with Christopher Isherwood’s manipulation of the concept of rebellion in his novel Goodbye to Berlin (1939). The Isherwoodian novel depicts various stages of rebellion against the chaos of values, the middle-class conventions and against the authoritative moral standards that make certain forms of conduct appear right.The aim of this research is to trace Isherwood’s experimentation with the concept of rebellion; the forms he introduces into it change the conventional understanding of rebellion from a punishable law-breaking act into an instrument to deal with the difficult problems then to raise man to the occasion. Isherwood proves that rebellion is a constructive, not destructive, act whose role necessitates the improvement of the state and the individual.