Masculinity

The novel presents masculinity as a performance that depends on silence and controlled aggression, and shows how that performance isolates István at each stage of his life. In the youth detention center, he learns that speech exposes weakness while physical strength creates safety, so he lets action speak for him. The army reinforces this lesson through drills, commands, and debriefings where feelings have no place. His medal from Iraq marks him as a man who acts under fire, yet it does not give him language for what he has seen or done.

As István enters private security and then the Nyman household, the same pattern persists in a more polished form. Wealthy clients value him because he does not talk about what he witnesses. Helen is drawn to his composed presence, reading his quiet as depth and reliability, while he uses it to conceal...