Fallada's debut, printed in 1920, lays the foundation for his literary work with its expressive, imagery-rich, and idiosyncratic diction. Set in the "good old" days before World War I, "Der junge Goedeschal" takes place in the family of a high-ranking judicial official. Kai Goedeschal, the upper secondary student, experiences all the worries and troubles of puberty and finds no support. Fallada addresses the issues faced by young people, particularly those who grapple with generational conflict, rebel against a hypocritical upbringing, and must fend off the duplicity of the bourgeois species. Fallada wrote his first work between 1917 and 1919 in Berlin.