The Good Man's Guilt: A Psychoanalytical Interpretation Of The Assistant

The Assistant (1957) is Bernard Malamud's acknowledged masterpiece. It is extravagantly praised for its moral affirmation. However, most of the existing criticism of the novel celebrates the self-sacrifices of Frank Alpine to Morris Bober, the moral center of the novel, and his family, without exploring the guilty conscience that motivates Frank's self-abnegations. In this thesis I will explore the dark psychic roots which often nourish saintly or self-sacrificing behaviors and try to uncover the psychological logic in The Assistant. Frank Alpine, the assistant of the title, suffers some kind of childhood trauma or deprivation which blights his life. As a result, he harbors a rage that makes him hunger for revenge as well as relief. However, the thought of revenge tortures him and the action itself brings him irremovable sense of guilt. Thus only through acceptance of punishment can he find relief from the internal pressure of guilt. So when Frank Alpine knows that Helen Bober, the woman for whom he toils, is grateful for his self-sacrifice, he finally gets the relief he yearns for. In this way Malamud brilliantly exposes the psychology underlying the seemingly heroic behaviors of his protagonist.The thesis is composed of four chapters in addition to the Introduction and the Conclusion.Chapter One points out that many critics who praise The Assistant for its moral affirmation are also disturbed by its ending, that is, how to interpret Frank's fate at the end of the novel. Is Frank's self-punishment really necessary for him to become a moral man? Should he be praised for his selfless devotion to Morris'family and his new saintly way of life, or should he be condemned for his self-repudiation? In this chapter, the psychological underpinnings of Malamud's moral vision are explored in detail.Based on the psychological underpinnings, Chapter Two demonstrates the protagonist Frank Alpine's guilt, which is a very important chapter in this thesis. Frank's decision to take upon himself the burden of Morris'suffering and victimization can be explained as a desperate psychological strategy to resolve his intolerable emotional dilemmas.Chapter Three mainly discusses the moral center of The Assistant—Morris Bober's guilt and the reason for his guilt. Morris'excessive goodness, like Frank's at the end of the novel, derives from an unconscious sense of guilt. This interpretation explains the compulsive quality of Morris'honesty. However, whatever the sources of Morris'behaviour, he is still the positive moral centre of the novel and a figure worthy of admiration and love because he is an exceptionally compassionate, gentle and kind man. The difference between Frank's and Morris'guilt is also explored in this chapter.Chapter Four briefly introduces two women characters Helen Bober's and Ida Bober's dissatisfactions and their guilt.The conclusion is a summary of the above four chapters: the self-sacrifices of Malamud's characters in The Assistant are mostly motivated by their guilt. To summarize, The Assistant is proven to be a classic not only of Jewish but also of American literature. Malamud does focus strongly on moral concepts, but his characters never cease probing their deepest motives and acts, their hopes and dreams. Malamud, like other great writers, is concerned with how man chooses his own world and what happens to man in the process of making that choice.