The Ogre: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Ogre: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex figures within a narrative marked by themes of destiny, identity, and the impact of war. The central character, Abel Tiffauges, is a giant of a man who believes he is destined for a significant purpose. With a deep affinity for children and animals, Tiffauges embodies the archetype of an "ogre," and his journey unfolds amidst the horrors of World War II as he becomes a prisoner of the Nazis. As he traverses various camps in Germany, he seeks to understand the signs and symbols surrounding his existence, all while grappling with his identity as a wanderer, akin to the biblical Cain.
Another key character is Nestor, Tiffauges' schoolmate, whose tragic death marks a pivotal point in Tiffauges' life. Nestor’s legacy is intertwined with the tale of Saint Christopher, symbolizing the burdens of destiny that Tiffauges carries. The narrative also introduces Professor Keil, who reveals darker historical truths that foreshadow Tiffauges' path as the "Ogre of Kaltenborn," tasked with an unsettling role in the Nazi regime. General von Kaltenborn represents a fading pride in the German military, while Ephraim, a young Jewish boy, embodies hope and vulnerability. Their relationship highlights themes of care and sacrifice, culminating in a poignant moment of loss that echoes the broader tragedies of war. This analysis provides insight into how these characters navigate their fates within the tumultuous backdrop of history.
The Ogre: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Michel Tournier
First published: Le Roi des aulnes, 1970 (English translation, 1972)
Genre: Novel
Locale: A French provincial city, the border on the Rhine, and East Prussia
Plot: Philosophical realism
Time: The late 1930's and early 1940's
Abel Tiffauges (tih-FOHZH), a garage mechanic in Paris. He is sure that he is marked by fate for a special destiny that is yet to be revealed. Physically, he is extraordinary, a giant who loves both milk and raw meat, a man attracted strongly by both children and animals, an “ogre.” The search for his real self begins in earnest when he is taken prisoner by the Nazis and sent to Germany, a land of signs and symbols. There, by keeping a “magic” journal written with his left hand, he will be able to decipher the meaning of everyday events and finally learn his destiny. From camp to camp, digging ditches, keeping animals in the game forest of Hermann Goering, and commanding the Kaltenborn Castle's regiment of Adolf Hitler's child army, Tiffauges seeks his fate, learning that signs and symbols are hard to read and that he is often confused by them. He does understand that, like his biblical namesake, he is meant to be a wanderer, a nomad fated to be hunted by the sedentary Cains as the Nazis hunt and kill both Jews and Gypsies.
Nestor, Tiffauges' schoolmate at Saint Christopher and the janitor's son. Enormous and myopic, just as Tiffauges will later become, Nestor bequeaths his own destiny to his friend before perishing in a boiler room accident. It is Nestor who first tells the young Tiffauges the story of Saint Christopher, the giant who carried the Christ child to safety on his shoulders and who hovers spiritually over him through the years, willing him his own destiny of “childbearer.” Tiffauges remembers him as a magical figure, a “baby giant or a grown up dwarf.”
Professor Keil, an authority on anthropology who is present at the unearthing of two ancient skeletons in the peat bog of Goering's hunting estate and who identifies one of them as the fabled Erl King because of a tight band with a six-pointed silver star still in place over the eye sockets of the two-thousand-year-old body. It is at his lecture that Tiffauges first hears the tale of the king who stole the spirits of young children and left them dead in their parents' arms, announcing Tiffauges'darker destiny as the Ogre of Kaltenborn, scouring the countryside for young boys for the child army.
General von Kaltenborn, the master of the castle housing Hitler's youth corps, a Prussian aristocrat who is no longer proud of the German army and who is contemptuous of Hitler. One morning, he is taken away in full dress uniform by men wearing civilian clothes, leaving Tiffauges in charge of training the children.
Ephraim, the “star bearer,” a Jewish boy found by Tiffauges as he lies half dead among concentration-camp refugees who clog the roads. Tiffauges nurses the child back to health and, carrying him everywhere on his shoulders, becomes his “Steed of Israel.” Together, they flee the advancing Russian army, but Ephraim becomes so heavy on the giant's shoulders that they are forced down into the peat bog. As Tiffauges sinks, he looks up to find the child gone; only a six-pointed star in the dark heavens remains. Ephraim has fulfilled Tiffauges' (and Nestor's) destiny as “childbearer.”