that the school is only for exceptional boys. This means Werner is addressed as an exceptional boy and he deserves to enter the school. He is praised as exceptional
because there were two people already to fix the radio, but none of them are able to repair it. Meanwhile, Werner can fix the radio only in minutes.
The narrations of male’s rationality and intellectuality are not only in Werner. However, many male figures are narrated as having something special in them. This
narration below is the narration of Marie Laure’s great uncle, Etienne. In the novel,
Etienne and his brother are narrated as both brilliant male figures. “Great-Uncle?” “Marie-Laure.” His voice is low and soft, a piece of silk you
might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it between your fingers.
…. “How many radios do you have, Uncle?” “Let me show you.” He brings her hands to a shelf. “This one is stereo. Heterodyne. I
assembled it myself .” She imagines a diminutive pianist, dressed in a tuxedo,
playing inside the machine. Next he places her hands on a big cabinet radio, then on a third no bigger than a toaster. Eleven sets in all, he says, boyish
pride slipping into his voice.
“I can hear ships at sea. Madrid. Brazil. London. I heard Pakistan once. Here at the edge of the city, so high in the
house, we
get superb reception.” Doerr, 2014: 134-135
The paragraph above tells the intellectuality and craftsmanship of Etienne in
making or assembling a radio. He is depicted as showing Marie Laure the collection of radios that he has. It is also told that there is a “boyish pride” in his voice after
telling Marie Laure about the radios. His radios are also extraordinary for its capability to reach the broadcast from Madrid, Brazil, London and even Pakistan.
Those radios must have a long range capacity to receive the waves. The narration shows the excellence of Etienne for his ability to assembly the radio and his pride that
he is able to see the world from his radio.
Von Rumpel, the villain in the novel, is also depicted as a male figure of excellence. One of the examples of his excellence can be seen from the narration
about him below. Von Rumpel‟s particular gift is for diamonds: he can facet and polish
stones as well as any Aryan jeweler in Europe, and he often spots fakes at a glance. He studied crystallography in Munich, apprenticed as a polisher
in Antwerp, has even been
—one glorious afternoon— to Charterhouse Street in London, to an unmarked diamond house, where he was asked to
turn out his pockets and ushered up three staircases and through three locked doors and seated at a table where a man with a mustache waxed to knifepoints
let him examine a ninety-two carat raw diamond from South Africa. Doerr, 2014: 141
Most of the male figures in the novel are always narrated as figures who
possess particular gifts. The narrations are so vivid that makes them easy to be remembered and spotted. Von Rumpel is portrayed as someone has two particular
gifts i.e. his excellence for diamonds and his extraordinary patience. In the narration above, he is portrayed as an individual who has a lot of knowledge about diamonds.
He is even depicted as a guy who can simply spot the fakeness of a diamond at a glance. He is an expert in crystallography and has a lot of experiences about the
world of diamonds. He is even portrayed as a person who got a chance to go abroad for a diamond. His passion for diamonds is unrivalled in the novel. He is the only one
depicted in the novel for being able to spot the fakeness of the three duplicates of Sea of Flames, the treasure of France. These duplicates are made as decoys for people
who have an interest about this treasure during the war. However, Von Rumpel is depicted as a guy who can solve the puzzle and knows that the real diamond must be
brought by Daniel Le Blanc.
4. Heroism
Being a hero is something which is always narrated by most people as a noble quality to be praised of. People believe heroism as one of ultimate virtues in life.
However, unfortunately, there is a strong prejudice on heroism in society. Heroism is commonly seen as the virile side of behaviors associated to males. Females are seen
as a peacemaker or a nurturer who do not engage in conflicts. Then, their soft behaviors are encouraged to calm the hero after his fatigue of helping others.
Campbell 2000: 18 elucidates that hero is somebody who has been capable to surpass his or her own limits as a typical human. This definition means hero is
someone who is able to go beyond himself or herself through struggle. It means a hero can also give positive contribution to others. To be a hero, somebody must not
submit to others rather than himself or herself. In the novel, Doer narrates the heroic actions to his male characters. There are many important events which are narrated as
they will not be able to work without the help of the male figures. Male figures have a significant role
to the construction of the novel’s plot. The war is narrated as a male field where females have minimum roles or even no roles because they are
essentially not significant at all in it. Females are always narrated dependent to their male counterparts.
The narrations on the following paragraphs are the example of how male heroism is so strong in embodying the story of the novel. An example of the
narrations can be seen below.
The morning fog is so dense that he cannot see the roofline. He entertains pipe
dreams: the Frenchman will invite him in. They’ll drink coffee, discuss his long-ago broadcasts.
Maybe they’ll investigate some important empirical problem that has been troubling him for years.
Maybe he‟ll show Werner the transmitter. Laughable. If Werner rings the bell, the old man will
assume he‟s being arrested as a terrorist. That he might be shot where he stands. The antenna on the chimney in itself is cause for execution. Werner
could bang on the door, march the old man away. He would be a hero. Doerr, 2014: 411
The paragraph tells Werner’s imagination after he has found out the location of the assumed terrorist radio. This job to locate the radio is the mission of Werner
and his team. By revealing the transmitter or radio, he will be praised for completing his mission successfully. However, Werner does not reveal the location of the radio.
He prefers to keep silent and save the information for himself. In the group or team, Werner is the only one who is expert in this field. It means no one is able to spot the
location. By abandoning his mission, Werner is practically a traitor to the German. However, he will be a hero for the man Etienne and the people behind him. Werner
knows that there is also a blind girl in the house with the man. Moreover, he has a past connection to the broadcast made by the man. This old man’s broadcasts are
previously the ones who let Werner know the world of his current job. Meanwhile, the radio is actually the basis of the resistance which is organized by the female
figures in the novel. This resistance to the invasion is the only female’s resistance narrated in the novel. The resistance broadcasts numbers as codes as well as
information about the civilians in the city. This broadcast is probably intended to get the assistance from the allies. Without the radio, the
female’s resistance will be useless. Then, the problem arises. This radio is made and operated by a male figure
named Etienne. This radio is also under the control of Werner. If Werner did say the location of the radio, then the people affiliated with the radio would surely be
captured or killed. In brief, there is a very clear and strong heroism made by men in this narration. The first is because the resistance will not work or broadcast the codes
without Etienne. The second is the resistance will obviously be unsuccessful without Werner. The male figures are narrated as the saviors of the female figures as well as
their protectors. The continuation of Werner’s heroism because of his decision is also narrated
through this following paragraph. He is stated as explicitly do his action to protect Marie Laure.
It seems to Werner that in the space between whatever has happened already and whatever is to come hovers an invisible borderland, the known on one side and
the unknown on the other. He thinks of the girl who may or may not be in the city behind him. He envisions her running her cane along the runnels. Facing the
world with her barren eyes, her wild hair, her bright face. At least he protected the secrets of her house. At least he kept her safe. Doerr, 2014: 437
It is narrated previously that Werner is preparing himself for the attack to the enemy. In the passage above, Werner remembers Marie Laure who is probably still in
the city. He, then, assures himself that at least he did conceal her house so that she will not be arrested by his comrades. He feels content for keeping her safe by doing
this and also the attack may not range into her house as well. This feeling makes Werner can focus to welcome the arrival of the enemy.
An important narration which strengthens Werner’s heroism can be seen from the time when Von Rumpel finally found Marie Laure after his long wait. This passage
below is the detail of the narration.
The brick claps onto the floor. The voices stop. She can hear a scuffle and then the shot comes like a breach of crimson light: the eruption of Krakatoa. The
house briefly riven in two. Marie-Laure half slides, half falls down the ladder and presses her ear against the false back of the wardrobe. Footsteps hurry across the
landing and enter Henri’s room. There is a splash and a hiss, and she smells smoke and steam. Doerr, 2014: 466
It is narrated that Werner finally killed Von Rumpel to save Marie Laure because
Von Rumpel pointed his gun to her. This narration is also the only scene which depicts Werner as a soldier killing a person. Werner is continuously narrated as a boy
who is less likely to harm others. However, in this moment, he put his courage to kill Von Rumpel. His shot is narrated as so loud that even it is like the eruption of
Krakatoa. This figure of speech adds the perfection of Werner’s heroism. Moreover,
this act is done after Werner struggles to free himself from the cellar. When Volkheimer goes away to find food since they have not eaten for days, Werner is
narrated contrastively as coming to his lady, Marie Laure. From this point, Werner is seen as an incomparable hero among others males. His heroic action is so vivid that
he is depicted as the guy who saves his girl from the villain. The success of Marie Laure to be a doctoral student is also narrated as
inseparable from the help of a powerful male figure. It is stated that after the war Marie Laure plans to study at school. This narration below appears even before Marie
Laure says she wants to go to the school.
