Pešanik: Analysis of Major Characters
"Pešanik: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the character of Eduard Sam, a Jewish railroad official living in Voivodina during World War II, whose life is marked by persecution and tragedy. As the protagonist, Sam is portrayed as an intelligent yet absent-minded man, struggling with his impracticality despite his love for his family. His efforts to impose order on his chaotic surroundings, symbolized by his railroad schedule and aspirations to publish poetry, highlight his dreamer nature. Sam embodies a sense of profound resignation and innocence, refusing to engage in violence even when faced with existential threats, thus representing both humanity's suffering and its inherent goodness. His tragic fate serves as a reflection of the broader atrocities faced by many during the war. The narrative is delivered through the perspective of a narrator believed to be Sam's son, who observes his father's plight with a mix of detachment and emotional involvement. Ultimately, the work emphasizes themes of hope and the moral choice to stand against evil, encapsulated in Sam's belief in the superiority of the persecuted over the persecutors. This exploration offers a poignant commentary on the human condition amidst the horrors of conflict.
Pešanik: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Danilo Kiš
First published: 1972 (also as translated as Hourglass, 1990)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Northern Yugoslavia
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: World War II
Eduard Sam, a retired railroad official in Voivodina, the northern part of Yugoslavia occupied by the Germans and Hungarians in World War II. He is the only character on whom the author dwells. As a Jew, Sam is subjected to persecution, first obliquely, then openly, until he perishes somewhere in a concentration camp. The story of his tragic fate is told by the narrator, presumably the author himself. Sam is a middle-aged man, of slight build and high-strung disposition, extremely intelligent but often distraught and absentminded. His ties with his family and people around him are rather tenuous, although there is no doubt that he loves his family. Even though he once worked in a practical and exact profession, he is basically impractical and seemingly incapable of taking care of his family, despite his best efforts. The only remnant of his earlier profession is a railroad schedule, revealing a subconscious attempt on his part to bring some order into the chaotic life surrounding him. He hopes to publish this railroad schedule as a book, along with a book of his poetry, which again demonstrates that he is basically a dreamer and an eccentric. Throughout the novel, he seems to fail to grasp the gravity of situations and the ubiquitous danger in which he and many others around him find themselves. His tendency toward philosophizing renders him a grotesque Don Quixote trying desperately to stop the inexorable whirl of the windmill set in motion by the forces of evil. Sam is also a frustrated genius, and his inability to develop his full potential leads to impotence to defend himself, even to a death wish that, unfortunately, turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. He offers a picture of a misplaced wanderer from some mysterious exotic land or planet, whose stay on the earth is tragically and brutally cut short. Sam's personal tragedy transcends the fate of an individual. His words of resignation notwithstanding, the fact that this intelligent, gifted, and harmless man refuses to resort to violence, even if in self-defense, speaks for his innocence and for a deep-rooted residual of goodness in humankind. Sam thus becomes a twofold symbol: of humanity's endless suffering and of its innate goodness, which is indestructible in the long run. By quoting a maxim at the end of the novel that “it is better to be among the persecuted than among persecutors,” Sam expresses hope in the final victory over evil.
The narrator, presumably Sam's son. He is reduced to the role of an observer and is not a totally objective one, although at times he is as detached as possible under the circumstances. For the most part, he lets Sam tell his own story, either directly or through the police investigations.