A New Interpretation Of The Assistant:Helen Bober's Struggle In Ethical Dilemma

Bernard Malamud(1914-1986)is a prestigious contemporary Jewish-American novelist who publishes eight long novels and three collections of short stories with two National Book Awards and one Pulitzer Prize to test his excellency.The Assistant(1957)is usually regarded as his most representative masterpiece.Traditional critics from home and abroad reach a consensus that Jewishness and ethical salvation is the most important theme of the novel.Yet this kind of reading is made mainly from the male characters' perspectives and tends to neglect or belittle the importance and functions of female characters.Thus,this thesis embarks on a new interpretation of the novel by following the ethical dilemma of Helen as the female protagonist,with an attempt to unveil the importance and functions of female characters by analyzing the ethical choices and relationships between the characters.Helen Bober is the only surviving daughter of Morris and Ida,and their only hope towards a possibility of future happiness after their own American Dreams crash.At the same time,Helen is courted by both sons of the other two Jewish families and the object of affection for Frank Alpine,the Italian young man.Through the discussion of Helen's relationship with all the other major characters in the novel,we can see the cultural inheritance in Helen from both her Jewish spiritual father Morris and her materialistic mother Ida.In the meantime,because the Jewish boys have been assimilated into the American culture,Helen is unable to accept them due to her unwillingness to forsake her Jewishness.Finally,we see how love helps Helen and Frank to overcome their own personal limitations as well as cultural barracks to achieve both emotional identification and final spiritual transformation.This thesis starts with a chapter of brief introduction to the author,the novel,past literature review as well as Martin Buber's Encounter Philosophy which is the theoretical background of the thesis;Chapter Two,the thesis discusses the Jewish integrity represented by Morris Bob and the American Materialism and Pragmaticism adopted by Ida and their respective influence on Helen to present the source of Helen's ethical dilemma;Chapter Three the thesis focuses on the analysis of the money-wise Karp family and social-climbing Pearl family and the relationship between Helen and their sons to show Helen's vain attempt to fuse their parent's opposite ethics in her choosing of eligible marriage partners.Helen's final refusal of both candidates shows that Helen's inherent pursuit of emotional communication triumphs over her need for material security and comfort;Chapter Four the thesis presents a reformed Frank becoming the symbolic inheritor to Morris as the new champion of Jewishness and harvest Helen's love and Helen,after the struggles of life,finally abnegating her material side and gaining a possible lover.With this new interpretation,the novel can be viewed as a reflection of both the cultural predicaments of Jewish American immigrants the vigorous vitality of Jewish culture.