REFUND  
Module 1:
Fritz Karinthy was a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist and translator.
He remains one of the most popular Hungarian writers. He was the father of poet
Gabor Karinthy and writer Ferenc Karinthy. He is the first proponent of the six
degrees of separation concept.

Among the English translations of Karinthy’s works are two novellas that continue
the adventures of Swift’s character Gulliver. His expertise lies on humour and
satire and drawing out the extraordinary out of ordinary situations.

Karinthy started his writing career as a journalist and remained a writer of short,
humorous write-up until his death. He became famous with the publication of his
literary parody called “That’s How You Write”.

Strongly philosophical and humanistic in his outlook, he raised his powerful voice
against the barbarism and horrors of World War I. After the First World War, his
writing became more serious and engaged, though never leaving a satirical bent.

His works reflect his robust optimism. He blends a rational curiosity with a
profound psychological insight into his characters. Pervical Wilde, American
playwright, adapted his play, Refund, for a general audience.

Karinthy had a brain tumour for which he was operated in 1936. He describes this
experience in his autobiographical novel, “Journey Round my Skull”. He died two
years later in 1938.
  
 

Module 2:
Refund, the one act play

I would like to read you certain excerpts of the play Refund. So, let us read and
enjoy this hilarious one-act play.

(On screen display of the one act play Refund by Fritz Karinthy – Ref - http://train-
srv.manipalu.com/wpress/?p=153743 )

Module 3:

Humor

In this light and rollicking play the author has condensed his criticism of an
educational system into humorous form. Naturally the overall effect of his humor
is heavily dependent on language and allusions.

The humor lies in the strategy hatched by the teachers to outwit Wasserkopf whose
objective is to fail in the re examination and collect a refund. All the meaningless
questions asked by the teachers and the meaningless answers given by Wasserkopf
are extremely funny. The creative, non-linear thinking brings a different stroke to
ordinary events. How the whole conventional matter is turned upside down and
made extra ordinary lead to a strange hilarious situation. In the end, the smart way
the teachers made Wasserkopf fall into his own hatched trap is really intelligent
and humorous.

The highlights of the play Refund are its humor and its fresh look at the master-
student relationship. The dialogues flow smooth based on fun and laughter that
concludes with an allegorical message.
  
 

Module 4:

The criticism

The play is a satire on the modern educational system. Wasserkopf asks for a
refund of his entire school fee. He says that all the education that he received in
their school was useless. The teachers, perplexed at such novel demand plan to fool
the student. They pass him with distinction in the re examination even though his
answers were all wrong. Wasserkpof blamed the school for his failure. And the
teachers felt the student is sly and wants to cheat them. So they outwit him in his
own game.

The play is a satire on modern education system and is applicable even today.
Often the syllabus is outdated and irrelevant and do not support a student in
earning livelihood. Emphasis often lay on memorising rather than creative
thinking. The knowledge gathered from school often do not have practical
relevance. A single examination often is a sole criterion to evaluate a student’s
ability.

The dramatist pokes fun at the teachers and criticises the education system as well
as the examination pattern.

Module 5:

The Teachers and their lateral thinking

The first question was from the History master. The master asked him how many
years the Thirty Years’ War lasted. The answer was in the question itself. But
Wasserkopf, keen on giving wrong answers, tells that the Thirty Years’ War lasted
seven meters. The history master did not know how to prove this answer right.
Fortunately for him, the mathematics teacher aided him by proving that the answer
was right on the basis of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. He argued that time and
space are relative terms and therefore years can be represented as meters. Then
  
 
they proved that the actual war took place for only seven years. So, seven years is
relatively equal to seven meters. Therefore, Wasserkopf’s answer was right.

The Physics teacher’s question was whether objects actually became smaller as
people moved away from or if it was an optical illusion. To this question, the
answer given by Wasserkopf was ‘Ass.’ It is also proved correct because as the
Physics teacher demonstrates the melancholic look of the ass is also an optical
illusion. Therefore, Wasserkopf had given a metaphorical explanation

The geography teacher did not have much difficulty in proving that the capital of
the German province of Brunswick is ‘Same.’

Normally a student appears in an examination hoping to pass. Here the objective of

Wasserkopf was to fail so that he could claim money as a refund of fees as he did
not learn anything from the school. The teachers used innovative and creative
thinking process in order to prove every odd answers of Wasserkopf as correct.
And thus they made Wasserkopf passed in the re examination.

Module 6:

Unique examination strategy

The Mathematics teacher was the smartest of them all. He laid a clever trap and the
student fell into that clever trap. First, the master asked the student a question, on
the circumference of a one-hundred-and-nine-side regular polyhedron. The
question shocked all the other masters and the Principal as the teachers’ motive
was to pass the student by hook or crook. Wasserkopf with all his knowledge
would have found that question difficult. But he gave an almost correct answer.
The Mathematics teacher said that the student had failed in Mathematics and hence
should be given the refund. And he cleverly trapped Wasserkopf and made him
calculate the exact amount that should be refunded. Wasserkopf did not realize that
this was his difficult question. He calculated the exact amount and said that it was
6,450 crowns and 50 heller. Once the mathematics teacher got the exact answer he
revealed to Wasserkopf that the question was his second and ‘difficult’ question.
By giving the right answer to the difficult question Wasserkopf had shown that he
was a ‘mathematical genius.’
  
 
This was the last point where the teachers successfully proved that Wasserkopf is
indeed a genius and he passed the re examination with flying color. And thus the
money was refused to Wasserkopf.