The Fixer Essay, Research Paper
In the novel, The Fixer, the writer, Bernard Malamud,
nowadayss to us a hapless Judaic jack of all trades life in Russia
during the early 1900 ’ s, before the Russian
revolution had begun. Destroyed by his married woman ’ s
disclaimer, Yakov Shepsovitch Bok leaves his shtetl in
hunt of chances for a better life. After a
few months of despairing searching, Yakov sneaks out of
the ghetto to look for work among the gentile. As he
hunts the streets, he stumbles upon a adult male who lay
rummy on the floor. Yakov instantly recognizes a pin
on the adult male ’ s coat as belonging to the racist
organisation called the Black Hundreds. Puting his
uncertainties behind him, Yakov decides to assist the fat
Russian. Not cognizant of Yakov ’ s beginnings, the Russian
offers him a occupation as a wages. The occupation, nevertheless,
requires him to populate in a territory prohibited to Jews.
Out of despair, Yakov agrees. Merely a few months
subsequently, honest, hard-working Yakov, is caught.
Governments had found out he is a Jew. Less than a
hebdomad before that, nevertheless, an atrocious slaying had been
committed and they accuse Yakov of being the liquidator,
when in fact the true slayer is the immature male child ’ s own
female parent. Yakov is charged with slaying for spiritual
intents. They believe the Jewish community needed
the blood to bake into the matzah for Passover as a
symbol of the recollection of the crucifixion of
Jesus.
Yakov Bok is Judaic adult male in his early mid-thirtiess. He
describes himself as “ a influence peddler by trade, it ’ s a poorer
trade than most, and once for a short clip I was a
soldier in the Imperial Army. In fact, to state you
the truth, I ’ m non a spiritual adult male, I ’ m a
freethinker. ” He believes he has had such bad fortune,
that it is useless to pray to G ’ vitamin D, and hence he is
more of an atheist, or a deist, than he is a
Jew. He states he is a Jew merely “ by birth and
nationality, ” though cipher understands what is meant
by that. To the Russians he is lawfully a mere Jew. At
one point Yakov says to himself “ I ’ m Yakov Fixer …
the sort of adult male who finds it parlous to be alive.
One thing I must larn is to state less-much lupus erythematosus, or
I ’ ll destroy myself. As it is I ’ m already ruined. ”
During his first few months in prison, Yakov does non
seem to acquire accustomed to the adversities. As clip
base on ballss him by, nevertheless, he grows used to life in a
prison cell, but it merely gets worst. As the novel
unfolds, Yakov becomes highly weak and thin and he
looses the piddling religion that was still left in him.
Throughout the novel, the chief thought is really obvious.
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It is Yakov falsely accused of the slaying of a immature
male child in order to run out his blood for the baking of the
Passover matzah. The subject of antisemitism in
Russia during the clip of pogroms and of Tsar Nicholas
the 2nd is a cosmopolitan subject presented to us as the
book unravels. It is apparent that if Yakov had non
been born of the Judaic religion, he would non hold been
charged with the slaying of Zhenia Golov. He was
being used merely as an illustration to the three million
Judaic occupants of Russia. He was being used as a
warning.
The significance of the rubric The Fixer, chosen by
Malamud, has a really actual significance, nevertheless it
typify a much more profound idea. Literally,
the rubric merely refers to the chief character of the
novel, who makes a life as a influence peddler, or jack of all trades. It
is a really simple rubric of a book about a really simple
adult male who has been falsely accused of a really complicated
slaying. He was merely “ Yakov the influence peddler from a little
town in Pale, an orphan male child who had married Raisl
Shmuel and had been deserted by her. ” Not a prevaricator and
a liquidator of immature kids. He made the “ stupid
misrepresentation ” of lying that his name was Yakov Ivanovitch
Dologushev, alternatively of Yakov Shepsovitch Bok. This
minute prevarication led him to set down a occupation which in bend forced
him to populate in the Luskianovsky territory which was
prohibited to Jews. He unsuccessfully tries to
convince the Prosecuting Attorney of his artlessness
sing the slaying “ I swear to you, I am guiltless of
any serious offense. The worst I am guilty of is
stupidity-of life in the Luskianovsky without
permission … but surely, non of any serious
crimes. ” And for a little unsophisticated prevarication he is
charged with a immense, really complicated slaying, therefore
turn outing to us how the rubric has a more profound
significance than is literally intended. The rubric is besides
really dry. The adult male is a influence peddler, and yet he is non be
able to repair anything sing his luckless life.
The book The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud, is a powerful
novel depicting the antisemitism felt throughout
Russia during the pre-revolution epoch. It is a
historical novel which teaches us what it was like to
be a Jew life in Russia. It is of import non merely
to better understand Russian history but to seek to
better understand antisemitism, which led to the
killing of many guiltless lives. It is the
antisemitism that caused World War two and the decease
of six million Jews. Anti-semitism was besides a major
cause of the Zionist motion which resulted in the
formation of the province of Israel in 1948.
