Portrait of a Man Unknown: Analysis of Major Characters
"Portrait of a Man Unknown" delves into the intricate dynamics between a middle-aged narrator and his obsession with a dysfunctional family: an eccentric father and his dependent daughter. The narrator, drawn to their relationship, observes them obsessively, revealing themes of love, hate, and emotional entrapment. The father, a self-made man with a miserly disposition, struggles with anger towards his daughter, whom he views as ungrateful and financially reliant despite her age. Meanwhile, the daughter exhibits her own forms of dependency and manipulation, embodying a complex mix of victimhood and childish behavior as she attempts to extract support from her father.
The arrival of Louis Dumontet, the daughter's fiancé, introduces a transformative element, allowing both father and daughter to shed their masks of dysfunction and embrace their personalities. The story evokes a sense of voyeurism and psychological introspection, where the narrator's reflections on the family’s dynamics mirror his own struggles with identity and dependence. Ultimately, the narrative captures a poignant exploration of familial ties and the often-hidden emotional turmoil beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary lives.
Portrait of a Man Unknown: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Nathalie Sarraute
First published: Portrait d'un inconnu, 1948 (English translation, 1958)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Paris and an unnamed Dutch city
Plot: Experimental
Time: The late 1940's
The narrator, a middle-aged man, rather neurotic, fascinated, intrigued, and finally obsessed with the relationship between his neighbors, an old man and his daughter. Like a detective, he spies on them constantly. To catch them in unguarded moments, he hides under stairways, peeks through windows, follows them in the street, and accosts them in museums and restaurants. He both delights in and shrinks from the drama between the two. He senses a love-hate relationship between them but experiences a similar, almost magnetic attraction to them followed by repulsion. Following psychoanalysis, he thinks himself cured of his obsession and travels to distract himself. When he visits a museum in Amsterdam and views the Portrait of an Unknown Man, the problem returns in full force. The portrait strikes him as a revelation: The eyes and face are strong and dominating, but the body is vague and indistinct. To him, it is the mirror of the old man and his daughter, seemingly dominant personalities who are actually shapeless, gluey masses of desires and passions. As he renews his spying, he feels an undercurrent of anxiety, unconsciously recognizing a resemblance between the daughter's parasitic clinging to her father and his own dependent relationship to his parents. He too wears a mask that he calls personality.
The Father, an eccentric, miserly, self-made man, a sado-masochist, terrorizing those around him with fits of rage but considering himself a victim of his daughter's avarice. Having grown up in poverty and become successful through privation and hard work, he hates to spend a penny on his daughter, whom he thinks ought to be financially independent by now. With friends, he is usually relaxed and affable until someone mentions his daughter; he then becomes cranky and irritable, decrying her lack of gratitude. With friends from the old, poor neighborhood, he plays the role of kindly, solicitous old acquaintance, playing the part by wearing old clothes and traveling in third class on the train. With wealthy friends, he shows off, leaving big tips and spending lavishly. Alone, he reads textbooks from his school days. Only when his daughter's fiancé is ready to provide her with financial security does he relax his attitude of suspicion toward her and reflect simple fatherly solicitude.
The Daughter, who is middle-aged, unattractive, single, dependent on her father, and like him somewhat sadomasochistic. She views herself as a victim of his miserliness and will stop at nothing to wheedle money from him. She begs, cajoles, and whines, even after he pushes her out the door. She spies on him, steals household items, and requests more money than she needs; when she gets it, she deposits some in the bank. Like him, she exhibits eccentric, childish, and miserly behavior. In place of a purse, she carries a school book-bag. She wears cheap clothes and tries to use an expired ticket to gain entrance to an art exhibit. She, too, assumes a personality only after her fiancé guarantees her security. Only then can she successfully play the role of middle-class matron, serene in the knowledge of being cared for.
Louis Dumontet (lwee dew-mohn-TAY), the daughter's fiancé, an employee of the Finance Ministry. The only character with a name, he acts as the catalyst to neutralize the anxious rage between father and daughter, thus allowing each to appear, like himself, as a personality, viewed from without. Because he ensures the daughter's future, father and daughter feel free to become the personalities they have pretended to be. His redirection of their lives gives them an opaque quality that makes only their masks visible, with no future sign of hidden emotional turmoil.