Beginning with Malte’s growing penetrating way of seeing, this book first portrays how people are wrapped in disguise and dumbness by wearing multiple faces. By seeing beneath people’s disguise, Malte made his first attempt to approach truth. The most noticeable example is his observation of a wo[University Name] in the street (P4). The wo[University Name], who “had fallen completely into herself”, frightened Malte for the “flayed head without a face”. This description more or less reveals the appalling truth of hu[University Name] beings who have long been wearing masks: they would eventually lose themselves.

Apart from seeing beneath people’s face, Malte also began to read people’s behaviours to investigate their hidden emotions. This is the case with his observation of a [University Name] hopping in the street (P49). By “understanding that this hopping wandered around in his body” (P50), Malte discerned that the [University Name] was trying to hide his fear of people. In the end, Malte also sensed the [University Name]’s subjugation to his fear from his resigned and somewhat grovelling body language. In this way, truth about hu[University Name] beings’ mentality is revealed through their gestures and postures.

Moreover, the revelation of truth about hu[University Name] beings, in Malte’s view, largely depends on the “inwardly seen”. The most important step for attain the “inwardly seen” is to quest for the authentic self, which entails one’s intense feeling and acceptance of his or her emotions. The one most frequently mentioned in the book is fear. As he hinted, the “tenacious per[University Name]ence” (P54) of fear drives people to wear “outer hardness” (P55), which is meaningless and despicable. The restless fear and vulnerability are also concealed by outward stillness. Therefore, for Malte, the fundamental step to quest for one’s authentic self is to face up to their fear and try to control or dispel it.

The acceptance of fear involves the recognition of its complexity. From Malte’s perspective, fear is a form of “energy”, “which is too strong for us” (P123). He also further pointed out that by rejecting feeling our emotions we “no longer recognize our property”. In his view, fear is an objective feeling, which may be valuable for being an authentic experience. Further still, only after accepting our authentic feelings can we truly control it. The question then comes to how could one control and dispel fear. In Malte’s view, love seems to be the best solution.

The second way to get control of one’s authentic self is to reject pre-determined life and imposed masks. Rejecting the expectations from his family, Malte escaped and embarked on the journey to appease his inner restlessness. In addition, from Malte’s perspective, fame should also be avoided, as it “scatters you about” (P59), consumes you and distorts you. Fame, in this sense, is also a product of modern consumerism and can conceal and distort people’s authentic self.

The recursive theme of childhood memories also hinted that this can be one of the ways to understand one’s authentic self, for the past always seems to be the prologue to future, or in other words, the memories that “were deemed past made them almost future” (P190). Reflecting on his childhood memories, Malte dissected the fear in the depth of his heart and tried to relate these memories to his present situation. His reflections on his birthday experience awakened him to the pretence and awkwardness of people’s practices resulted from the obedience to habits and rituals (P108). This finding fed the repulsion for inauthenticity in him, and functioned as a clue to his search for the authentic self. His present situation also testified his finding, which formed a logical circle of the trace of life and made sense of his existence.

In a nutshell, from Malte’s perspective, to attain “inwardly seen” one must quest for the authentic self relentlessly, which entails one’s intense feelings for his or her emotions, the rejection of disguise and imposed expectations, and the reflection on one’s past, especially childhood memories. Apart from “inwardly seen”, Malte also contemplated [University Name]y other important themes with regard to the revelation of truth.

The first point I aspire to make is Malte’s view on the nature of reality. Realities, from his perspective, “are slow and indescribably detailed” (P117). Therefore, to truly comprehend realities, one must first fully grasp all the details and give these trivialities their due complexity. For example, when contemplating the essence of a box, Malte noted how the nature of it is distorted and appropriated. Only in this way can people fully understand the nature of these neglected objects of daily life and can hopefully open our eye to truth. Malte also condemned how modern people simplified everything by reducing them “to a few straight, bright planes like the face in a [University Name]et portrait” (P13). To grasp the reality one also need to think about the concept of time. In an attempt to understand how time was consumed, Malte showed how the action of knocking was conducted through time and then became penetrating.

Moreover, Malte also pointed out that how people were shackled by their habits and gradually live without in-depth thinking. The most noticeable example is his observation of people’s behaviours on the wedding. The “unparalleled awkwardness, almost empty-headed” behaviours (P108) of these people are largely the result of subjugation to conventions, which only seems to be superficial imitation without authentic emotions involved. This event also propelled him to try to get rid of the accustomed way of thinking and the shackle of traditions or conventions.

To contemplate individuality is also an important component of the revelation of truth. The patients who didn’t have “a death of one’s own” (P5) in the hospitals made him realize the essence of modern society: everything, even death can be anticipated, planned, and controlled. Hence, individuals were gradually assimilated and generalized, hidden under the cover of grand systems. Malte also extended this point to the narration of history, in which only stories about masses are told, focusing on the average instead of unique individuals. Therefore, the revelation of each individual’s uniqueness is also necessary to reveal truth.

Death, as a thread of the book, is also viewed by Malte as being one of the essences of life. In the book Malte recorded the death of his mother, his father and his grandfather in great details. Their attitude towards death varies, and to some extent reveals certain truth respectively. Malte’s mother willingly accepted her death, yet her abrupt death triggered the fear and repulsion towards death in Chamberlain’s wife. Malte’s father seemed to have died peacefully, yet the note recording the death of Christian the Fourth revealed the embedded and concealed fear inside. Malte’s grandfather died “his own death”, and his death was so powerful and though-provoking that it almost haunted everyone in the neighbourhood. Death, whether willing accepted or feared, keeps haunting everyone alive. Nobody can avoid it. Therefore, the best solution seems to be face it and figure out the essence of it.

The question then comes to what can people incessantly stick to even in the case of death. Malte’s answer, as implied in the last few pages, is to love. In his view, people who love instead of being loved are closer to truth and God. Though love sometimes may be a burden as it always comes with excessive expectations and bondages, the importance of it remains undeniable. Love can dispel fear and establish one’s existence; love can help one discover truth and even undertakes to write poetry to reveal certain truth; love can help one make life meaningful and ultimately helps one connect to God (P188-189). It seems that, in the end, Malte forgave love for the burden it brings along and decided to continue to love.

To wrap up the essay, the revelation of truth an on-going process of making sense of one’s authentic self, the essence of life and the outward realities. To do so, one must investigate inner world relentlessly, experiences and feels both extensively and intensively, assimilates their memories into their life and always have the determination to love regardless of the harm it may bring along. As Malte wrote, “only when they become blood in us, glance and gesture, nameless and no longer to be distinguished from ourselves, only then can it happen that in a very rare hour of the first word of a line arises in their midst and strides out of them” (P14).