The Fixer Research Paper In the

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.

& lt ;< br />

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.