Christian does regain his humanity when he is accepted into the
band of robbers, who elevate him to their Hauptmann. He first sights the
wild man in the woods and exclaims: "denn hatte ich eine Kreatur
gefunden, die mir ahnlich schien" (Schiller 2004). It is what Freud
defines as uncanny, the ability to recognize something as belonging to a
pattern, but without the ability to place it within a context. "Das Moment
der Wiederholung des Gleichartigen wird als Quelle des unheimlichen
Gefuhls" (Freud 1970). The moment of recognition is revealing;
Christian's description, that of the wild man, reveals another "other:"
"Seine Figur ging ins RiesenmaiSige—meine erste Besturzung wenigstens
hatte mich diese glauben gemacht—und die Farbe seiner Haut war von
einer gelben Mulattenschwarze, woraus das WeiJSe eines schielenden
Auges bis zum Grassen hervortrat" (Schiller 26). Paradoxically, Christian
finds his equal in a giant who, like him, is a mixture of races. His initial
impressions of the wild man are distinctly negative. He consistently
refers to the wild man's devil-like appearance and refers to the robbers'
hideout as a hell-like cave. Among the robbers, he finds acceptance from
both men and women, which restores his sense of morality and social
obligation leading him to seek atonement. The robbers function as a
society unto themselves, and thus Christian's induction into their ranks
symbolizes his entry into society in a larger sense: "Die Welt hatte mich
ausgeworfen wie einen Verpesteten—hier fand ich bruderliche Aufnahme,
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