The Spiritual Growth Of Malamud's Heroes

Bernard Malamud is one of the most important writers of contemporary America and another famous Jewish writer after Singer and Saul Bellow. He illustrates"Jewishness"more profoundly. In his works, he depicts vividly the Jews who suffer for the redemption of mankind as well as the Gentiles who are finally converted into Judaism, presenting his view"All men are Jews."①This thesis chooses two of Malamud's novels—The Assistant and The Fixer for analysis. The former part examines the protagonist in The Assistant Frank by `revealing his spiritual growth—how he, a Gentile, is gradually converted into a devoted Jew under Morris Bober's moral influence.The other novel going to be analyzed in the latter part of this thesis is The Fixer, which also highlights the theme of"suffering-redemption". However, the difference lies in that what The Assistant emphasizes is a responsibility for the individuals—Morris suffers for the salvation of Frank and Frank's moral renascence, to a large extent, is attributed to Morris, while Yakov in The Fixer goes beyond this. He suffers not for individuals but for all Jews. Up until now, the purpose of the thesis has been brought to light. The Assistant reveals a moral relationship between individuals, while The Fixer brings it up to the level in which man shoulders responsibilities for the whole nation. In this way, Malamud's focus on morality has been sublimated from some individuals to the whole nation. Besides, Frank and Yakov's predicaments reflect the existential state of modern people, which call for serious and immediate attention.Through the discussion above, this thesis intends to draw such a conclusion, that is, the significant suffering of individuals may awaken their moral awareness and thus further stimulate them to shoulder responsibilities for the nation. And no one, under any circumstances, can separate himself from others and shoulder off his responsibilities for society.