... grandeur of the Corpus Christi blinds him. Roth shows this blindness through Trotta's perception of a "new fatherly solitude and benevolence" (192) in the Kaiser's gaze. In selecting his grandfather, Carl Joseph fails to realize that his grandfather is merely a memory of heroic, yet exaggerated stories. His grandfather's "unfathomable physiognomy" and "remote look" in the portrait leaves him no wisdom for they are merely "dabs and brushstrokes" (33). With only an increasingly "otherworldly" (33) portrait, Carl Joseph lacks vivid, concrete examples of his grandfather's heroic deeds to imitate and learn from. Carl Joseph's innate need for and lack of an adult male to esteem greatly influences him throughout his adult life. Feeling a stronger connection with his grandfather, Carl Joseph idealizes the glory of the Hero of Solferino's village. Knowing nothing of Sipolje except that the village lies "cradled between unknown mountains, under [...] an unknown sun", Carl Joseph's ...

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