American Jewish Fiction Jewish Spirit

American Jewish writers compose an important part in American literary field. Through meticulous analysis on the representative novels- of the four American Jewish writers, this dissertation attempts to demonstrate the clashes between the new ideas and the old traditions and explore into the contradiction and combination of the sense and sensibility in the protagonists.This dissertation falls into five chapters. Chapter One "The Introduction" is the leading part for understanding the theme of the paper. At first, it elucidates on the Jewish spirit in Judaism, regarding it as the moral and ethic values in the daily life of the Jewish people. Then, it explains the American and Jewish natures of the concerned novels, believing that they are Jewish because they are linked with traditional Jewish folklore, and that they are American because they present the process of assimilation and acculturation of the Jewish immigrants in the American society.Chapter Two "The Eden Garden" is a close analysis of the novel The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan. Superficially, it is significant that David gets out of the backward Russia just as Moses, the father of Judaism, led Israelites out of Egypt in the Biblical history. After industrious work in New York, David soon exploits his talents to establish himself in the trade of tailoring. However, David's history is, in fact, the betrayal of Jewish spirit, which brews in Russia and develops in America. David takes the path against the Jewish spirit after accepting the typical Western idea, social Darwinism, just as Adam and Eve were driven out of the Eden Garden after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thus the topic of this chapter.Chapter Three "The Double Towers" focuses on The Manor by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The two major characters, Catalan Jacoby and Ezriel Babad, go astray from Judaism at the beginning, and each returns to the Jewish tradition after a series of events. Caiman gives up his manor for the prayer room, while Ezriel combines the Jewish spirit with modem movement of Zionism. The fact that Caiman and Ezriel try to continue to be Jews outside the net of Judaism is as absurd as the Tower of Babel, which the ancient people in the Bible built in order to make a name for themselves, which but never reached the heavens. Later on, a spiritual tower springs up as they identify themselves with Judaism again.Chapter Four "The Covenant on Mount Sinai" is on The Assistant by Bernard Malamud. At first, it comments on certain characters in the novel who betray the Jewish spirit while pursuing American Dreams and accepting American social ethics. Then it illustrates how the charisma of Morris Bober, the storeowner, moves Frank Alpine, the namesake of the novel, to convert to Judaism. Morris acts in line with the Covenant on Mount Sinai in spirit by possessing a Jewish heart instead of merely a Jewish head; while Frank converts to Judaism as a symbol of the covenant between a good man and the Lord and as a proof that he is willing to suffer for others.The fifth Chapter "The Noah Ark" meditates on More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow. Apparently, Benn Grader, the protagonist, conceives profound affection for the mankind, and is disgusted by the fact that "more people die of heartbreak dian nuclear radiation". His Jewish heart, however, does not echo and leaves him isolated in the American society, where modem ideas such as social Darwinism and pragmatism are rampant. Symbolically, Benn is the embodiment of Adam, and falls like Adam into the abyss of desire, serving as a lesson for the mankind. In fact, Benn wishes to conserve the mankind in Jewish spirit in the way Noah saved the world in his Ark.