Hans Pauli Pettersen

Hans Pauli Pettersen is a theological student and a peasant-farmer's son, a minor but recurring figure in the narrator's desperate wanderings through Christiania. He is first encountered when the narrator, already destitute, notes that he has borrowed a blanket from Hans Pauli weeks earlier and intends to return it at the first opportunity. This blanket, a green one, becomes a central object in the narrator's struggle, symbolizing both a material resource and a moral boundary. Hans Pauli himself is a poor man, living in the attic of a five-storeyed house, yet the narrator trusts that if he had a shilling, he would not stint it.

Life and Plot Trajectory

Hans Pauli Pettersen appears only briefly in the narrative, but his presence is felt through the blanket he lent. The narrator carries this blanket with him when he leaves his attic room, wrapping it in paper at Semb's shop to avoid shame. Later, when the narrator is at his most desperate, he considers pawning the blanket for a shilling to buy food, but stops himself, feeling that to pawn another man's property would be to brand his soul with the first scar. The blanket is also the object of a failed attempt to pawn it at a shop in Stener's Street, where the pawnbroker refuses it. Eventually, the narrator, in a moment of weakness, takes the blanket to the pawnbroker again, but is again refused. The blanket remains with him, a constant reminder of his debt and his precarious honor.

Key Actions and Objectives

Hans Pauli's primary action in the story is the lending of the blanket, an act of kindness that the narrator remembers and feels obligated to repay. The narrator's objective regarding Hans Pauli is to return the blanket, a goal that becomes increasingly difficult as his poverty deepens. The narrator's internal conflict over the blanket—whether to pawn it for survival or preserve his honor—is a central moral struggle. The blanket is also a link to a past when the narrator had a friend who could offer help, a connection that is severed when the narrator learns that Hans Pauli has moved and is "gone home" for the holidays.

Relationships and Conflict

The relationship between the narrator and Hans Pauli is one of unequal friendship, defined by the narrator's debt and his shame. The narrator's conflict is internal: he wants to be honorable and return the blanket, but hunger and desperation tempt him to betray that trust. The narrator's decision not to pawn the blanket is a moment of moral victory, a conscious choice to remain "pure and honourable" in a world that seems to conspire against him. The blanket itself becomes a symbol of this conflict, a physical object that carries the weight of the narrator's conscience.

Change and Ending

Hans Pauli Pettersen does not undergo a personal change in the story; he remains a distant figure, a memory of a better time. The narrator's relationship with the blanket, however, changes dramatically. After a failed attempt to pawn it, the narrator returns it to his bed, smoothing it out as if to erase the evidence of his moral lapse. The blanket is last mentioned when the narrator, in a moment of despair, thinks of it as a possible source of comfort in death, planning to lay his head upon it. The blanket, and by extension Hans Pauli, remains a constant, unfulfilled obligation, a thread connecting the narrator to a world of honor and friendship that he can no longer access.

Narrative Role and Evaluation

Hans Pauli Pettersen functions as a minor character whose primary role is to provide the blanket, a key object in the narrator's moral and physical struggle. He is a symbol of the narrator's past, a time when he had friends and resources. His absence, and the narrator's inability to return the blanket, underscores the narrator's isolation and the progressive loss of his social connections. The blanket, as an object, is a narrative device that allows the author to explore themes of honor, temptation, and the materiality of poverty. Hans Pauli himself is a flat character, defined by his single act of kindness and his absence, but his impact on the narrator's internal drama is significant.