This moving story shows how economic interests take precedence over family and community well-being. In this article, you'll find the synopsis and everything you need to know about the popular book Momo. An interesting novel by Michael Ende.
Momo book: Plot
momo book It's a novel about an orphan girl who wanders the streets. Ende describes her as a child without a home waiting for her. One day, while wandering aimlessly, she found a hollow where she built her new home, beneath the ruins of an amphitheater. There she took shelter. The locals discovered the girl and tried to help her make the place special, even bringing her portions of food.
One of the qualities that Momo locals liked the most was their ability to listen to others. However, a terrible threat looms over the city. The gray men carrying briefcases and cigarettes came with the purpose of swindling them, stealing their time.
Home Momo Book
The structure of the book is made up of three parts. The first of them describes a happy world. The locals of the city live peacefully and this is where Momo's life is built.
Michael Ende introduces the narrative by describing the amphitheaters, which according to his perspective were the centers for the leisure activities of the citizens and spent their leisure time. In an artistic way, she introduces us to the character of this beautiful girl named Momo and how the locals begin to approach her.
In this first part, we can also enjoy the stories and tales of Gigi Cicerone. His stories are characterized by being truly beautiful. He tells us the story of the Mirror and the Moon. This beautiful story, as well as the stories of Cicerone and the world manage to reflect the poetic ability of the writer.
Second part of Momo book
When we read Momo book we can identify that in the second part these beautiful stories begin to have the knot of the plot. For children, it will be about Momo's adventures against an evil enemy represented by the gray men.
For adults, this second part will allow them to discover how Ende metaphorically and poetically addresses themes of life and time. They will also be able to experience, through Ende's writing, how humanity spends its life, its time, every minute, second, and hour.
This work presents two perspectives on the plot: as a fantastic adventure involving Momo and her friends, such as Hora the Master and Cassiopeia the turtle; or as a metaphor that leads us to reflect on life.
Third part: Criticism of consumerism
When we delve into the narrative presented by Ende where he tells us the life of Momo, we can appreciate the strong criticism that the writer makes of the consumer society. A civilization that is characterized by the love of money and work. Even though the Brothers Grimm books leave some teaching this story criticizes facts of real life.
It is also a society that worships money. We can, for example, identify this criticism of consumerism in the life of the Barber who is a moderately happy character, but expresses his discontent, since he does not have the possibility of boasting a more luxurious life.
By analyzing the life of the Barber we can identify some elements of the consumerist model. For example, marketing is a discipline in the business world that is responsible for generating consumer needs for goods and services where they did not exist before. By satisfying the needs of the client, then they will be happy, since they have a life full of luxuries and can consume the goods they require to satisfy these needs. The barber, then, is a man who works a lot, so he's going to have that life of luxury.
The only thing that matters—the man continued—is to succeed, to become someone, to have something. Whoever goes further, whoever is better and has more than others, receives the rest in addition: friendship, love, honor, among others.
After the reader can identify the needs of the Barber in having a life full of luxuries, a new character is introduced. An aggressive savings bank salesman. This fellow manages to persuade the Barber that he is wasting his time and his work, and therefore does not have enough time left on earth.
The seller puts into practice all the techniques and mechanisms of the sellers of the time, with which he achieves his goal. With them she the life and destiny of the barber. The rest of the citizens of the city are no exception. Everyone becomes a victim of consumerism and materialization.
Momo Libro manages to observe how the city is transforming. Those who frequently visited her and spent time with her now can't even have social interaction with the children. Now they dedicate their lives to incessant work in order to have a life of luxury.
The children of the city also have extremely expensive and incredible toys. Remote control tanks, robots that can walk or space rockets, but they are so expensive that none of the children can enjoy them because they are complicated.
Through the narrative we can see how Ende introduces a strong criticism of those parents who work incessantly in order to have possessions and luxuries. They manage to buy their children's love through buying expensive toys, but they have no free time to spend with their children, not even to play with the same toys. One of the quotes from the story that introduces these criticisms is:
Well, I already have 11 discs of stories -declared a very young boy-, and I can listen to them as many times as I want. Before, my father always told me a story at night, when he came home from work. He was very pretty. But now he is never home anymore. Or he is tired and doesn't feel like it.
Michael Ende directs his pen toward a profound critique of the capitalist system and individualism as a way of life within this economic model. He manages to draw a comparison between the city of Momo and other Eastern societies where community is the prevailing way of life. While consumerism exalts individualism, in the other hemisphere, citizens tend to be more humble and kind.
Now, the consumerist society is exemplified in the scene when Nino questions the fact that everyone makes fun of him for being kind. As if the quality of goodness were a cause for ridicule, being rather all a virtue.
The landlord has raised my rent. Now I have to pay a third more than before. Where am I going to get the money if I convert my premises if I convert my premises into an asylum for old pussies? Why do I have to be nice to others? Nobody is good to me.
With this phrase we can see how Ende manages to get to the root of the problem. The consumerist society manages to put interest above the needs of the collective above acts of kindness.
time and death in momo book
Ende, in addition to making a profound criticism of the consumer society that characterizes the capitalist model, also manages to introduce his questions about the way in which this society spends its time.
Among his criticisms is how these societies are dedicated to working tirelessly and postponing time to do things that really make them happy. This behavior contrasts with Momo's life. A humble girl who is immune to everything that is happening around her. She doesn't care about material goods, nor about her consumer values.
Momo books is immune to time. This statement is based on the fact that when asked how old is she? she replies a hundred. Her inability to measure time, to count, and to be precise about years, minutes, and seconds make her immune to the power of the men in gray.
One of the most extraordinary scenes in Ende's novel is precisely when Momo manages to meet the Time Master, an elderly man characterized by his eccentricity. He lives in a house in Nowhere and is surrounded by countless clocks, one more beautiful than the other. The writer tries to masterfully place the theme of life and death on the scene. He does so in such a way that infants can see these phenomena as natural facts of life.
The phenomenon of death Ende introduces him to the scene where Momo manages to see a pendulum that is not attached to anything. This tool doesn't have any weight, but I can see how it rocks from one corner to another. When it reaches one corner it forms a beautiful flower and when it is going to be the other, that flower withers. While a new flower forms in the other corner. Our protagonist manages to understand that the soul, by abandoning the bodily part of people, once again becomes part of the Universe. This is one of the principles of Eastern religions.
One of the crucial moments of this novel titled "Momo" book is when this young girl asks the Master of the Hour if he was death. Ende reveals the figure of death as a happy old man who tries to teach us the value of time and how to enjoy each day, hour, minute and second. Momo asks the old man:
Are you death?
The hour teacher smiles at him and remains silent, then he subtly answers the following:
If human beings knew what death is, then they would no longer be afraid of it. And if you weren't afraid of her, then no one could ever steal your life time again.
The transformation of the city
Ende makes us reflect on how societies are the ones who modify the space or the environment in which they live. Well, when Momo arrives at that hole, under the ruins of the amphitheater all the locals went to help her beautify that space. We can even see how one of those citizens places a painting painted by himself to enhance the place.
However, when the mode of saving time and the cult of money are introduced, the writer tells us how those citizens, who despite having been happy with those small houses, with a lot of personality, now consider them not very productive. These beautiful houses were replaced by grey, soulless buildings. They erected those buildings to perform their basic functions, but in the end they are not able to enjoy those great constructions.
Characters
The novel Momo, written by Ende, tells the story of Momo's life in the city. To this end, it introduces a series of characters, which we will describe below.
momo
She is the protagonist of the story. An orphan girl who has the ability to listen to others. This quality helps her to have many friends of hers who help her build her new home. The men in gray consider her a great danger to her mission, so they try to get rid of her.
Beppo Sweeper
This is a very calm character. Some of the locals consider him a bit crazy, as he is slow to answer some questions. The reality is that this character has a lot of wisdom. He takes a long time to respond since he reflects very well on his answers. He slowly lives his time.
Gigi Cicerone
Gigi Cicerone together with the sweeper manage to be Momo's best friends. He is characterized as a character who loves to tell his own stories. When Momo disappears from the city for a year, the men in gray make Gigi Cicerone famous, who, over time, manages to lose his imagination. When Momo returns and visits Gigi Cicerone, Cicerone asks her to stay with him so they can tell stories again.
Children
Many children frequent the amphitheater to play in Momo's new home. They invent adventure stories there to have a good time.
the gray men
These characters make citizens save their time so they can steal them. His biggest opponents are the children, as they are those characters who do not understand the importance of time. These evil characters manage to transform the lives of citizens into money-forging machines.
Cassiopeda
Cassiopea is Master Hora's tortoise who has the ability to communicate through his shell where he forms the letters. She has the ability to know what can happen half an hour in advance, however she has no way of knowing the consequences.
The Time Master
He's the one who manages to save Momo's life by sending Cassiopeia to find her, as the gray men pose a threat. Below is a summary of Momo's book.
