Heinrich Mann's novel Man of Straw is a poignant
critique of a German society in which he knew well. Mann believed
that one should write novels not for entertainment but as a way of speaking
aloud political critiques. Man of Straw or Der Untertan (literally
The Patrioteer or The Subject is the second part of a trilogy called Kaiserreich
and like his other books it is a portrayal of the decadence of high society,
the greed of wealth, position and power. The Kaissereich trilogy
focuses in on the corruption under Emperor Wilhelm II.
Man of Straw is the story of Diederich Hessling.
The term patrioteer would be appropriate for him, he is a man whose love
of country is unparalleled and stands on the edge of fanaticism.
Mann sets up Hessling to be everything he despises about Wilhelmian Germany,
he makes his character despicable not only to others around him but to
the reader as well. For in the first chapter Mann says, "He hardly
ever resisted evil," paving the way for things to come (8).
Hessling's father runs a paper factory and affords his family
in the high middle class. Hessling can afford to go off to school
and does so to eventually graduates with a doctorate in chemistry.
While he is in school we learn about Hessling's personality through his
relationships with others. The most significant is that with a girl
named Agnes. Hessling is very critical of her and never fully accepts
her, he considers her below him. "Her regarded her as definitely
fallen" (66). Hessling tries to alienate himself from her for he
considers her of a weak will, this can be seen to go back to Hessling's
mother whom he "felt no respect for" (6). Years later Hessling makes
inquiries into what happened to Agnes while wondering if "she had won"
which implies that Hessling treats life, even his intimate life like a
game where he has to come out on top (252).
Mann spends considerably less time on Hessling's personal life
than he does on his political life. The author paints a picture of
a protagonist who is shaped by the corrupt authoritarian state which he
grew up in. The scene is post-Bismarckian Germany of the early nineteenth
century. It is a nation of strict social classes with an ancient
nobility and a reigning imperial family. Holger H. Herwig describes
it well in his book Hammer or Anvil?: "Mann depicted a crass materialistic
state devoid of taste, with artificial social conventions and ostentatious
public displays of pomp. Racist fraternities, bigoted students, haughty
yet fear-ridden professors, and arrogant officers dominated Heinrich Mann's
writing" (188). Diederich Hessling is a stereotype of Mann's German
state. Hessling grew up in the shadow of his father with whom he
had a sovereign-subject relationship. Hessling always has a respect
and concern for power. He found what he was looking for in school,
"Diederich was so constituted that he was delighted to belong to an impersonal
entity, to this immovable, inhumanely indifferent, mechanical organization
which was the school, the Gymnasium. He was proud of this power,
this grim power, which we felt was only through suffering" (7). Hessling
likes the structure of the school so much that he goes to the highest possible
level he can to achieve a doctorate. After the death of his father,
Hessling tries to compensate by finding a new hero or sovereign and naturally
he chooses the highest ranking German of them all, the Emperor Wilhelm
II. We first see this devotion when the German workers stage a riot
which Hessling gets involved in. The Emperor makes an appearance
and when Hessling sees him he thinks, "There on the horse rode Power, through
the gateway of triumph entries with dazzling features, but graven as stone.
The Power which transcends us and whose hoof we kiss, the Power which is
beyond the reach of hunger, spite and mockery! Against it we are
impotent, for we all love it!" (44). Hessling goes on to say in this
island of first person point-of-view that all types of people from his
fraternity brothers, the Neo-Teutons to priests and scientists love power.
In this scene Mann describes all that is wrong with German thought at that
time. Hessling says, "In it [Power] we live and have our being, merciless
towards those who are remote beneath us, and triumphing even when we ourselves
are crushed, thus does power justify our love for it!" Hessling then
falls in a mud puddle and stares up at the laughing Emperor and he is delighted
with the thought that he is a loyal subject.
Hessling's sad devotion to the Emperor becomes a large theme
of the novel. Hessling's love of the Emperor borderlines on insanity
which is another theme. From as early as the "bread, work" riots
Hessling tried to imitate the Emperor: "Diederich looked at him and tried
to flash his eyes like the Emperor" (43). We realize that Hessling
is delusional when he acts like the Emperor and then actually believes
he is the Emperor, "Diederich felt the royal helmet on his head, he tapped
the sword at his side and said: 'I am very powerful!'" (111). He
then drafts a telegram as the Emperor, the telegrapher is so shocked at
Hessling's appearance and demeanor that he says "It almost seems to me-You
look so very much like-His..." Hessling will later question if he
truly is like the Emperor when he finds out the Emperor's telegram was
very similar to his own, "Did his brain work in unison with...?" (121).
He feels as though he has a spiritual link to the Emperor and when he "gazed
into its mirrored reflection of himself draped in imperial ermine."
In the trial scene Buck even shares in court how alike Hessling and Emperor
are, "I will not speak of the ruler, but of his royal subject, whom he
has moulded: not of William II but of Diederich Hessling" (167).
One of the most interesting scenes in the book takes place after Hessling's
wedding to a woman named Guste. Hessling takes Guste in the back
of their cab and they prepare to consummate their marriage. But before
they continue he has to say "Let us think of His Majesty, our Gracious
Emperor. We must keep before us the higher aim of doing honor to
His Majesty, and giving him capable soldiers." To which Guste says
"Is it...really...you...my Diederich!" implying that he once again has
made himself appear as Wilhelm (228). Hessling solidifies this point
after Guste has had three children when he says that he would have let
her die in childbirth because "The race is more important, and I am responsible
to the Emperor for my sons" (276)
Interestingly, Mann does compare Diederich Hessling with what
he considers the proud German past. When Hessling has to deal with
Napoleon Fisher a Social Democrat he thinks of a prominent German, "Then
he decided, without beating around the bush, to go straight to the point
with brutal frankness. That is what Bismarck would have done" (210).
Later, after he comes home from a day of fanatical parading about the Emperor's
palace Guste thinks of an interesting analogy, "He was red as a tomato,
soaked with perspiration, and his eyes were as bright and wild as those
of an ancient Germanic warrior on a foray through the Latin territories"
(233). But these comparisons are few and far between. One can
only guess that Mann included them to show that Hessling has true German
blood in him but it has only been corrupted by society.
Man of Straw is a complex book which deserves more than one hour
and one paper worth of analysis. From what I have studied in German
history, Mann's portrayal of Wilhelmian Germany is, although harsh, accurate.
The society he displays is of course a stereotype and is used to exaggerate
the nuances of a corrupt society. But I believe that Mann accomplishes
what he wanted, to show how the old proud German such as Old Buck was destroyed
and the new submissiveness of Deiderich Hessling arose. I agree that
Mann makes his point superbly and he made me see Wilhelmian society in
a new but darker light And considering what that new society did
for Germany I would agree with his critique.