tells the resistance of Frederick to rebel from Bastian. Bastian is narrated dictating the
cadets to address to spot the weakest person among them.
“It usually does not take so long,” says Bastian mildly, almost as if to himself. “For the first to be caught.” Frederick squints at the sky. Bastian says, “Cadet,
are you the weakest?” “I don‟t know, sir.” “You don‟t know?” A pause. Into Bastian‟s face flows an undercurrent of antagonism. “Look at me
when you speak.” “Some people are weak in some ways, sir. Others in other ways.” The commadant’s lips thin and his eyes narrow and an
expression of slow and intense malice rises in his face. As though a cloud has drifted away and for a moment Bastian’s true, deformed character has come
glaring through. He pulls the hose from around his neck and hands it to Rödel. Rödel blinks up at his bulk. “Go on, then,” prods Bastian. In some other
context, he might be encouraging a reluctant boy to step into cold water.
“Do him some good.” Rödel looks down at the hose: black, three feet long, stiff
in the cold. Doerr, 2014: 193
There is a running competition among the cadets. The one who got the longest time to pass the track must be chased by the rest of the cadets. This person is narrated
as the weakest among the group. In this paragraph, Frederick is depicted as unlucky because he is running slower than what he usually does. Consequently then, he is
asked by Bastian to point out who the weakest cadet is. This question is rhetorical since the weakest are previously narrated in the story as the one who runs in the
longest time. Frederick resists Bastian by saying he does not know who the weakest is. He disagrees with Bastian on judging people as weak by using only one standard.
He answers by saying that some people are weak in some ways while others are weak in the other ways. Frederick must know the consequence of his action that he will be
punished for rebelling against his commandant. This action reflects the phenomenal bravery of Frederick. In military, it is prohibited to oppose order from somebody who
has a higher status. Frederick is portrayed as a brave man who is brave enough to resist which it will cost him getting pain from the punishment. He does not fear of the
risk or threat of getting punished or tortured by his seniors or commandants if he objects the order.
An example of bravery to lose the ones they loved also can be found through this narration below. This passage tells the absence of fear of those people who lose
their beloved ones.
Reinhard
Wöhlmann’s father falls. Karl Westerholzer’s father falls. Martin Burkhard‟s father falls, and Martin tells everybody—on the very same
night his shoulder is tapped
—that he is happy. “Doesn’t everything,” he
says, “die at last and too soon? Who would not be honored to fall? To be a paving stone on the road to final victory?” Werner looks for uneasiness in
Martin’s eyes but cannot find it. Doerr, 2014: 276 It is narrated that the father of Reinhard Wohlmann, Karl Westerholzer, and
Martin Burkhard died. However, Martin tells to everybody that he is happy on the very same night he loses his father. He is narrated as a tough guy who has a very
strong principle. He holds the fact that everyone will die eventually. Moreover, he believes that his loss and his father death should be honored as something valuable
for his country. He believes that it is all for the sake of paving the road to the nation’s
victory. Thus, he should not regret the death of his father.
3. Rationality and Intellectuality
Cognitive capability is one of the important elements for people to response the world better. People need this capability in order to be able to interact with the
world as good as possible. Rationality and intellectuality are the products of this cognitive skill. There is a need of rationality as well as having an adequate
intellectuality for every person to be an average reasonable person. Rationality is the ability to offer a good reason Heikes, 2010: 5. This says that one should be
reasonable enough to be said as accountable. Meanwhile, intellectuality is linked to the idea of knowledge DePaul and Zagzebski, 2003: 4. It means an intellectual
person must be somebody who embodies knowledge or being knowledgeable. Both of them are positive characteristics which are encouraged to be owned by every
person. In the novel, rationality and intellectuality are associated to male figures.
Female figures are less likely to embody these qualities. There are many narrations which portrays male’s rationality and intellectuality. Meanwhile, there are less and
almost no narrations of female’s rationality and intellectuality. If there is any of it, then it is likely that this rationality and intellectuality are from the help of male
figures. The most crystal clear narration of male’s rationality and intellectuality is
from Werner. This paragraph below may give an initial example of his intellectuality even as a kid.
Werner is eight years old and ferreting about in the refuse behind a storage shed when he discovers what looks like a large spool of thread. It consists
of a wire-wrapped cylinder sandwiched between two discs of pinewood. Three frayed electrical leads sprout from the top. One has a small
earphone dangling from its end. Jutta, six years old, with a round face and a
mashed cumulus of white hair, crouches beside her brother. “What is that?” “I
think,” Werner says, feeling as though some cupboard in the sky has just opened,
“we just found a radio.” Doerr, 2014: 32
It is told above that Werner is still eight years old. However, he is narrated as
observant and clever in analyzing electronic components. He is narrated as successfully identifying the components that belong to the internal organs of a radio.
Meanwhile, Jutta as somebody two years younger than him has no idea about what they have found out. Both of them do not have a long gap in age. Yet, the brilliance
of Werner is obvious in the passage. His brilliance is narrated continuously later on in the story.
This narration below tells the continuation of Werner’s extraordinary skill in understanding a radio. He is told to be able to solve problems which not all adults can
do it.
“Good with tools,” Herr Siedler is saying. “Smart beyond your years. There are places for a boy like you. General Heissmeyer’s schools. Best of the
best. Teach the mechanical sciences too. Code breaking, rocket propulsion, all the latest.” Werner does not know where to set his gaze. “We do not have
money.” “That’s the genius of these institutions. They want the working
classes, laborers. Boys who aren’t stamped by”—Herr Siedler frowns— “middle-class garbage. The cinemas and so forth. They want industrious boys.
Exceptional boys .” “Yes, sir.” “Exceptional,” he repeats, nodding, talking as
if only to himself. Doerr, 2014: 84-85 The paragraph tells the time when Werner is summoned to Herr Siedler’s
house to repair his radio. Herr Siedler is the one who finds out Werner’s brilliance and sends him to National Political Institutes of Education in Schulpforta. In the
paragraph above, Werner is praised for being smart beyond his age. He is recommended to enter the school where he does not need to pay. Herr Siedler says
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.
