His continued silence in the face of adversity earns him instant entrance into heaven, and he is told he may have his greatest wish granted. Bontshe the Silent proves his unusualness again when he says "what I'd like most of all is a warm roll with fresh butter every morning" (Peretz). This illustrates his simplicity, not in the sense that he is stupid, but that he is easily made content. The lesson to be happy with simple things amuses the heavenly court, but it had great resonance with a Jewish community often forced to live in poverty, and Bontshe the Silent is shown to be not really as foolish as the heavenly court believes. He is portrayed this way to reflect the continued forbearance of his people, who have little need9according to the Jewish faith) to want anything other than God's love and the promise of the messiah brining peace to the world.
Benjamin the Third, the protagonist based on a traditional Jewish folk hero in Mendele Mocher Seforim's novel The Travels and Adventures of Benjamin the Third, is a very different figure than these others. Engaged in high pursuits with high ideals, Benjamin is more of a traditional hero. His explorations and discoveries, however, take place completely within the Jewish world. Seforim presents a character who is able to explore Jewish interiority without shame.
Benjamin the Third is far from the only protagonist of a Yiddish or Jewish story with more modern sensibilities and character traits. Vasil in Lamed Shapiro's "White Challah" is drastically different from the other characters listed here. To begin with, he is not Jewish, and in addition he is actually dim witted in ways that the other "fools" we have seen were only suspected of. Most strikingly, however, is Vasil's identity...
Jewish-American Experience and the Yiddish Radio Project The Jewish-American Culture in Yiddish Oral history has become one of the most important historical movements of the last two centuries. Through oral histories in either interview or preservation of recordings that were produced in earlier times, the history of the modern era is being retold and saved. Yiddish is a dying language the last of the Yiddish speakers are being lost and a small
Endurance and suffering in Bernard Malamud's "The Assistant" Endurance and suffering are main themes as projected through the two lead characters in Bernard Malamud's "The Assistant," a heartwarming mentor-student story set in early 20th century Brooklyn. As is the case with many of his stories, "The Assistant," By Bernard Malamud, tells the story of a simple man trying to make his life better through a struggle against bad luck. Through his characterizations
Bernard Malamud, a Natural Writer Bernard Malamud, was the oldest son of an immigrant grocer. His parents, Max and Bertha, were Russian-Jewish immigrants and would frequently work late, and Bernard would spend many hours in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn absorbing the atmosphere of the area. Times were different then and he was allowed to stay out late as a child, and "wander in the neighbor hood." He would skate on
Yarbrough quotes Ihab Hassan, who describes postmodernism as the "literature of silence" in that it "communicates only with itself," a reference that initially astounds the rational mind. Then, reading further in Yarbrough, Hassan is quoted as saying the term postmodernism applies to "a world caught between fragments and wholes, terror and totalitarianism of every kind." In Vonnegut's novel, characters reflect the deconstruction of American society in the 1950s, during the
A professor of English at Waynesburg College, Roberts may have glossed over some of the raw and even vulgar remarks and actions taken by the characters. At one point a newspaper editor -- angered by the violence and killing conducted by Tony's gang of gangster beer purveyors -- blurts out, "We need to put teeth in the deportation act! These gangsters don't belong in this country" (Scarface, Hawk). Throughout the
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