Hartman

Hartman is a German who calls himself an American artist during the Siege of Paris, but the story presents that identity as politically unstable and finally fatal. Denounced as a fraud and suspected of espionage, he is arrested, claimed only reluctantly as a fellow countryman, and shot at the d'Orsay barracks while Paris is collapsing around him.

Identity and Introduction

Hartman's defining characteristic is the contested status of his nationality. In the rue Serpentine, West condemns him as someone who calls himself an American while behaving as an exploiter of France's wartime privations. West accuses him of coming to Colette with pockets full of white bread and beef and a bottle of wine costing thirty francs, while refusing to give even a dollar to the American Ambulance and Public Assistance. The contrast places Hartman inside the expatriate community yet outside its moral obligations: he claims the privileges of an American identity without accepting the duties that West believes should accompany it.

Hartman's artistic identity is likewise treated as fraudulent. West insists that an artist would not worm his way into the service of the Public Defence merely to consume the people's food, and he tells Hartman to keep away from the Alsatian Brasserie and the smug-faced men who gather there. Hartman answers with an accusation of lying and throws a bottle at West, who seizes him by the throat and forces him against a dead wall. Their quarrel therefore makes his identity a public and physical conflict before the authorities formally arrest him.

Accusations and Arrest

The American Legation reports that the Alsatian Brasserie has been visited and that an American named Hartman has been arrested. The attaché describes the affair as especially dangerous because Hartman is said to have been caught swindling the Public Food Committee. Papers seized in his rooms are described as damning evidence, while the ration records show that he drew food for fifty people. The charge is not merely private dishonesty: in a starving city, taking provisions under false pretenses turns an uncertain personal identity into an offense against the population.

The evidence is presented as conclusive enough that the authorities intend to shoot him. The Legation cannot simply permit the execution without taking notice of a man who claims to be an American, but its intervention is defensive and procedural rather than compassionate. The attaché does not clear Hartman; instead, he reports that the papers and the ration fraud make the case a nasty affair. Hartman's claim to American nationality thus becomes an administrative complication, not a shield.

Jack Trent's Reluctant Intervention

Jack Trent initially responds to the accusations with fury rather than solidarity. On hearing that Hartman has cheated the people during the crisis, Trent declares that such conduct is worse than robbing the poor-box and says that the authorities should shoot him. His first judgment accepts both the wartime accusation and the moral logic behind it: hunger makes ration fraud an act of exceptional vileness.

That judgment changes when Trent receives a dispatch from the American Minister ordering him to go at once and identify and claim Hartman as a fellow countryman and brother artist. Trent calls Hartman a rascally thief and German spy, but he also recognizes the immediate consequence of refusing the assignment: Hartman will be shot at once. The order forces Trent into an unwilling role in which national and artistic fellowship must be performed even though Trent believes Hartman deserves punishment.

Execution at the Barracks

Hartman's death occurs during a night of military confusion and destruction. Braith, West, and Colette escape through a flooded cellar as fires burn through the streets, shells flash across the ruins, and pillagers move among the debris. At the Seine, Braith separates from them because he is uncertain about Jack and Sylvia. In the crowd crossing the bridge, West recognizes the measured tread of a platoon and sees a lantern, bayonets, and a deathly face behind them.

Colette identifies the prisoner as Hartman. He is marched toward the d'Orsay barracks, where the gate slams and the crowd presses against the grille. A lantern briefly illuminates the postern before the volley rings out across the stone parade ground. The execution is therefore witnessed indirectly: Hartman's face appears for a moment, the military enclosure closes, and the sound of gunfire confirms his death without granting him a final speech or a public defense.

Narrative Significance

Hartman's story is built from a chain of labels that grow more dangerous as they pass between private quarrel, diplomatic office, and military authority: German, American, artist, thief, and spy. None is presented as a stable refuge. His self-description as an American artist is challenged by West, recorded by the Legation, tested through Trent's compulsory intervention, and finally overwhelmed by the wartime machinery that executes him.

His body is never given the narrative prominence accorded to the grotesquely memorable body of Mr. Wilde or to the stricken bodies elsewhere in the book; Hartman's physical presence is reduced to a briefly seen, deathly face behind a moving platoon. That restraint makes the execution more impersonal and more devastating. The city does not pause to resolve whether Hartman is truly an American artist or a German spy. Under siege, accusation, hunger, and military panic, disputed identity itself becomes sufficient grounds for disappearance.