The Boy at The Top of the Mountain

As Pierrot adjusts to life at Berghof, many of his concerns with identity continue. Chief among these is his feeling of inferiority. Upon arrival at the mansion, he has clothing to wear that is far too big for him, including a sweater “so oversized that when he put it on, it hung down below his knees” (83). The clothing literalizes the old nickname Pierrot had been branded with during his childhood in Paris, Le Petit. He is equally embarrassed to realize that someone had stripped him entirely naked during the night of his arrival and put him in a nightshirt. When Herta intends to bathe him herself, as though he were an infant, he manages to persuade her to let him clean himself, yet with “his voice cracking a little” as he speaks (81).

The bath he takes is an important symbol of his transition to Berghof. His French clothing already having been taken away and incinerated, he literally washes France off of him in the bath. The water turns “murky from all the dirt that had collected on his body,” as he enjoys lowering “his head under the surface, enjoying the way the sounds of the outside world disappeared” (82). When Beatrix takes him to get new clothing in the traditional German style, this further indicates his abrupt cultural shift. With new clothing, clean skin, and a different language (his father’s native tongue, German), Pierrot outwardly seems to have transformed.

Inwardly, however, he continues to struggle with loneliness. Initially, he finds the wilderness surrounding Berghof his only real comfort; he describes the mansion overall as “[a]n enormous, silent world captured in tranquility” (85). With such feelings, it is only natural that his thoughts wander back to Paris, his old home, and to Anshel. In his isolation, letters from Anshel would be his only insight into events of the outside world. The stern warnings Beatrix and Ernst give him to sever ties with Anshel and not mention him, however, create a great sense of confusion, exacerbating his struggles to belong to something stable. These chapters also plant subtle hints that Beatrix and Ernst are involved in resistance efforts to oppose the Nazis, such as the presumably secret meeting that Ernst attends while Pierrot and Beatrix shop for clothes. Later in the novel, this is confirmed when the two are revealed to be involved in a plot to poison Hitler.

One of Pierrot’s most radical transformations upon arrival at Berghof is the changing of his name to Pieter at Beatrix’s suggestion. Hiding his French roots, the existence of his best friend, and even his true name, Pierrot builds his identity at Berghof on a foundation of lies and fear. Beatrix assures him that “[i]n your heart you can still be Pierrot, of course. But at the top of the mountain, when other people are around—and particularly when the master and the mistress are around—you will be Pieter” (98). Her good intentions have unintended consequences, as Pierrot/Pieter later becomes all too comfortable in his role as a devotee of Hitler in the absence of any other foundational identity.

Nevertheless, as his aunt, Beatrix does represent some connection to Pierrot’s family and former life, however tenuous. Having taken him under her wing at risk to herself by asking Hitler to allow him to live at Berghof, Beatrix serves as Pierrot’s surrogate mother. Her comment about Pierrot’s father, “I think that his injuries, coupled with what he saw that night, did great damage to his mind. After the war, he was never the same” echoes Émilie’s insistence that the war killed Wilhelm by breaking his spirit, even if he did not actually die in battle (105).

Pierrot’s isolation and complete removal from the turmoil developing across Europe in the years leading up to World War II is ironic, given that he finds himself in the epicenter of Hitler’s world, his home at Berghof. The climactic scene of Chapter 7, however, makes clear that Hitler’s power that was wreaking havoc across Europe was equally present at Berghof. As soon as Pierrot sees Hitler, he responds with a quick, fearful, and forceful Nazi salute. At this point, Hitler’s name has not even appeared in the novel yet. Even if readers do not know the historical details the book mentions, the physical description of the Führer, coupled with Pierrot’s reflex to seeing him, make Hitler’s identity clear. While the entrance of Hitler into The Boy at the Top of the Mountain may be a surprise to readers, the drama of this scene emphasizes that the remainder of the book will be centered on him, and he has had a powerful effect on Pierrot even before the two have met.