"Action Will Be Taken" by Heinrich Böll

 "Action Will Be Taken" ("Es wird etwas geschehen") is a brilliant satirical short story by the Nobel Prize-winning German author Heinrich Böll, published in 1954. It is a sharp, ironic critique of modern industrial society, corporate culture, and the post-WWII German economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder), where busyness was often equated with worth.

Summary

The story is told in the first person by an  unnamed narrator. The narrator introduces himself as someone constitutionally unsuited for hard work. He has an innate inclination toward "inaction" and contemplation. However, due to severe financial distress, he is forced to look for a job.

He applies for a position at a large, bustling factory owned by a man also named Wunsiedel. The factory’s core philosophy is encapsulated in its aggressive slogans: "Action will be taken!" and "Let’s have action!"

During the job interview, the narrator realizes that the environment rewards the appearance of intense activity rather than actual productivity. When the boss asks him what he thinks should be done about a corporate crisis, the narrator instinctively shouts the company mantra: "Action will be taken!"

This enthusiastic outburst thrills the boss, who immediately hires him as a "Factory Quality Inspector" or general assistant.

The narrator describes the absurd atmosphere of the factory. Everyone is constantly rushing around, phones are ringing, papers are flying, and people are shouting into dictaphones.

The narrator’s actual job requires him to do almost nothing, but he must look incredibly busy while doing it. He masters the art of breakfasting at his desk while maintaining a frantic expression, scribbling nonsense on note pads whenever someone walks by. He realizes that in this corporate world, the energy expended is more important than the results achieved.

One morning, the boss, Wunsiedel, bursts into the narrator’s office to bark a series of rapid-fire orders. He is in his usual state of high-octane, breathless adrenaline. He shouts, "Action must be taken!" and then, under the sheer stress of his own manufactured urgency, he drops dead of a heart attack.

The narrator is the only one present. For the first time in his life, he is forced to take real, decisive action. He steps over the body, goes into the hallway, and calmly announces to the frantic staff: "Action has been taken. The boss is dead."

Because the narrator was the one who found the body and managed the immediate aftermath, he is expected to play a central role in the funeral. He walks behind the coffin, dressed in solemn black.

During the funeral, the narrator has an epiphany. He realizes that his slow, mournful, and silent demeanor is perfectly suited for the funeral industry. He quits the factory and gets a job as a professional mourner for a funeral parlor.

The story ends with the narrator completely satisfied with his new life. He is paid handsomely just to stand quietly, look sad, and hold a wreath—achieving his dream of doing absolutely nothing while everyone around him thinks he is performing a vital, solemn duty.

 Themes

The Absurdity of Modern Work Culture: Böll lampoons the corporate obsession with "busyness." The factory produces vague "goods," but the story focuses entirely on the noise and motion of the office. It suggests that much of corporate work is performative theater.

The Critique of the "Economic Miracle": Post-WWII Germany rebuilt itself at a frantic pace. Böll was deeply skeptical of this hyper-materialistic, work-obsessed society that forgot how to simply be.

Irony of "Action": The ultimate punchline is that the boss’s obsession with "action" literally kills him, while the narrator’s love for "inaction" allows him to survive and thrive.

Memorable Quote:

"I am constitutionally better suited to quiet, reflective looking than to work... but a persistent shortage of money forced me to seek employment."

 The major characters and their descriptions:

 1. The Narrator (Unnamed / Briefly referred to as Wunsiedel)

 Role: The protagonist and first-person storyteller.

 Description:He is an inherently lazy, contemplative, and passive individual who prefers "quiet, reflective looking" over physical or mental labor. Forced to work solely due to financial desperation, he is a survivor who quickly learns how to game the corporate system. He possesses zero ambition but has a brilliant talent for **mimicry**—he successfully fakes the frantic energy his employers demand until he finds his true calling as a professional mourner, where he is finally paid to do absolutely nothing.

2. Alfred Wunsiedel (The Boss)

 Role: The hyper-active owner and CEO of the factory.

 Description: A man possessed by an obsessive, almost manic drive for constant motion and productivity. He is the living embodiment of the post-WWII German economic boom. Wunsiedel measures a person’s worth entirely by their capacity for "action" and surrounds himself with slogans, ringing telephones, and breathless employees. His inability to turn off this frantic energy ultimately becomes his downfall; his obsession with manufactured urgency literally causes his heart to fail.

 3. The Factory Staff (Collective Character)

 Role: The corporate environment/background.

 Description:Though not individualized, the employees function as a single entity representing the "corporate machine." They are portrayed as brainwashed, stressed, and perpetually rushing down corridors with papers in hand. They blindly mirror the boss's frantic energy, serving as a satirical critique of a society that prioritizes looking busy over actual meaningful existence.