In Antonio Tabucchi’s Pereira Declares and in The Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the over ruling governments were suppressive and overwhelming. In both the book and the movie the governments show similar aspects of instilling the sense of power and control among the society. Portugal’s government in Pereira Declares, and East Germany’s government in The Lives of Others. Dreyman, the main character in The Lives of Others, was a play writer in East Germany who was under constant surveillance due to his position as a writer. Pereira was a writer for a newspaper that was under control by the government, they could not write what they wanted due to the governments censorship. The suppressive government in both Pereira Declares and The Lives of Other were similar yet different in how they impacted the main characters in both stories. 

In Pereira Declares the suppressive government is evident in how Pereira was scared to write whatever he wanted, and how careful he was in saying anything in his own apartment. Monteiro Rossi was hired by Pereira to write for the Lisboa, the local newspaper. Rossi continued to write against things the government did. Pereira was constantly worried and pressuring Rossi to stop writing bad things due to the power the government had over them. Rossi was staying in Pereira’s home when the government fled in and beat him to death, leading Pereira into action. “Monteiro Rossi, try and pull yourself together, it’s all over… Pereira grabbed his wrist, felt his pulse. But life had ceased to flow in Monteiro Rossi’s veins. Then Pereira closed those staring blue eyes and covered the face with the towel. He stretched out the legs, he didn’t wish to leave him all huddled up like that, he maintains, so he stretched his legs out straight, as was only right for the legs of a dead man” (Chapter 24). After living most of his life without caring about politics, he slips in one final piece about how the regime killed Rossi. Likewise, in The Lives of Others, the main writer Dreyman is fearful to write about suicide reports due to the governments’ involvement, he knows if he is caught he would be killed or spend the rest of his life in prison. The common theme in both pieces is fear. Pereira and Dreyman have different reasons to be afraid of their own governments but they are afraid in general. “A reckoning of lives and talents wasted by a state with no good reason to exist apart from the maintenance of its own power. But there are comic, even farcical elements as well: a dictatorship that calls itself a democratic republic is inherently ridiculous as well as malignant” (Scott)

Both governments are suppressive and have too power and control over the lives of their citizens. 

Conversely, the differences in the two pieces of literature are how Pereira and Dreyman deal with the government, initially. It is not until the very end of the novel when Pereira decides to act against the government and write about what they did to Monteiro Rossi. While all of the movie Dreyman was secretly writing about the mass suicides in east Germany that were never made public for the rest of the world. Dreyman was tempting his own fate the entire movie because if he was discovered he would have been killed. A common theme is Pereira Declares is delay, Pereira struggles to make choices and he waits very long to choose to do anything up until his visit to the doctor. The doctor helped him realize the need to act and lose weight and indirectly the need for him to write his article about what happened to Monteiro Rossi. “He left the article with Senhor Pedro and made it to the door. He felt like a wet rag and his insides were churning madly. It occurred to him to stop for a sandwich at the cafe at the corner, but in the end he only ordered a lemonade” (Chapter 28”). Pereira pressed to have this article placed in the paper without it being approved by the censor.” “Without a doubt, the hurdles that he must jump in order to survive will grow larger, but he will have the certainty of having saved his soul. His victory will be immense. The only obituary that he manages to write is that of the young Monteiro Rossi. It will be, what is more, the most beautiful page of the entire novel” (Pitol 214).

 This was the first true time that Pereira rebelled against the government, unlike Dreyman, who rebelled constantly. Dreymon set up a meeting with people from West Germany so he could receive a type writer and so that his work would be passed to the right people so the world would truly know about the problems in East Germany. 

Another main similarity between the two pieces of literature is the surveillance. Pereira was being watched and listened to by the woman who made him food and took care of his room, while Dreymon was listened to by one main person, Wiesler, who reported his findings every day to the government. Without Wiesler’s change into a better person Dreymon would have shared the same fate as Rossi. Wiesler did not report his findings and let Dreymon finish his report without telling on him. Although the reader does not know if Pereira is being followed in the beginning the reader does know that he is suspicious of one woman for being a rat or an informant. Another similarity is that both characters experience death directly from the government. Pereira’s loss was Rossi, while Dreymon’s loss was his lover who informed on him to the government so she would survive. 

The suppressive government is a commonality between both Pereira Declares and The Lives of Others. With similarities in the characters and the way they both acted as writers against the government. Although both writers ended up doing essentially the same thing in bashing their countries, they did it differently. Dreyman was more direct all the way through the movie, while Pereira was against action up until the very end of the book where he submits an article that would potentially banish him from the country all together or kill him. The decisions that other people make can dictate the outcome of your life. Rossi made a decision to write against the government and he was killed, while Dreyman told his lover everything about him rebelling against the government which led to her ratting on him, leading to her death. The suppressive government in both Pereira Declares and The Lives of Others ended up dictating the main character’s lives both similarly and differently. 
