Gimpel the Fool (1957) - Isaac Bashevis Singer
Just to get started...
This story presents something that conflicts in many people: when to do things for yourself and when to do things for others. The main character clearly has a problem due to his choice to do things solely on the behalf of others. He says, "I believed them, and I hope at least that did them some good," when he knows that everyone is lying to him. He does the same with his wife's constant disloyaltly. The Rabbi realizes that he is unwilling to stand up for himself, and tries to encourage him otherwise, but he simply will not do so. Singer's presentation of this internal conflict is subtle, but I think it is a steady undertone throughout the story.
-Charlotte
This story presents something that conflicts in many people: when to do things for yourself and when to do things for others. The main character clearly has a problem due to his choice to do things solely on the behalf of others. He says, "I believed them, and I hope at least that did them some good," when he knows that everyone is lying to him. He does the same with his wife's constant disloyaltly. The Rabbi realizes that he is unwilling to stand up for himself, and tries to encourage him otherwise, but he simply will not do so. Singer's presentation of this internal conflict is subtle, but I think it is a steady undertone throughout the story.
-Charlotte
posted by L Lazarow | 7:17 PM
1 Comments:
I don't know how this connection really came for me, but I felt like the style of writing and the personality of the main characters in Gimpel the Fool and The Perks of Being a Wallflower were very similiar.
First of all, many of the sentences in both stories are fragments and seem like just a line of thoughts. Both stories go in many directions because of the anecdotes inserted after a thought.
Char-- I liked that you posted the quote "I believed them, and I hope at least that did them some good" because I think that one quote relates to a big part of The Perks of Being a Wallflower... one quote that i thought applied from Perks of Being a Wallflower
"We accept the love we think we deserve." This goes back to the idea that perhaps Gimpel thinks that he does deserve to be called a fool and thus lets others do it for their sake.
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