A Great Man's Insight Of Human Soul

Isaac Bashevis Singer is a great American writer, and he is considered almost by unanimous consent to be the greatest postwar writer of Yiddish literature. In 1978 he was granted the Nobel Prize for Literature. Singer has published more than 30 works, all in Yiddish language and most of them have been translated into English. Singer was especially brilliant in the writing of short fiction. He has published more than 10 books of collected short stories, the important of which include"Gimpel the Fool","the Spinoza of Market Street","a Crown of Feathers", and so on.This thesis stresses on the moral aspect of Issac Bashevis Singer's short fiction which is subdivided into five detailed issues: marriage morality, issue of slaughtering, professional morality, false messianic belief and issue of passion. In the beginning of the essay there will be the introduction of Singer's life and major works, which is followed by the discussion of the literary achievements on the study of Singer. The main body of the essay deals with three particular fields of morality which Singer shows great interest in his work: marriage morality, issue of slaughtering and professional morality. Singer's marriage stories can be generally divided into three groups: stories that praise the harmonious marriages in which the devoted couple have both improved their spiritual qualities and accomplished a treasurable life; stories which show the truth that curative marriage may provide vitality again to the depressed people; and stories that tell of marriages that have embarked on the wrong track, thus causing various problems. In harmonious marriages the cause and effect of loving relation between the couple are concentrated on. This harmony leads to their spiritual and moral fulfillment. In curative marriages, there is the discussion of the advantages this type of marriage can bring to the depressed and suffering people. In some of Singer's stories when a man's living force dries up the showing-up of a woman always brings libido and vitality to him again. The third type is marriages that have opposed the universally admitted morality and embarked on the wrong track. Singer has touched upon various defective marriages in the fiction. He seems to agree that the breaking of certain moral principles is the direct cause of failed marriages. Following the discussion of marriage morality, the next particular field is focused on the issue of slaughtering. Being both a Jew and a vegetarian Singer shows great interest in the killing. The moral reasons for his opposition to the slaughtering are as the following: Slaughtering indicates violence and the principle of"might makes right"; Slaughtering is against human natural kindness and against the principle that all creatures have the right to live on this earth. The third detailed field of morality provides a general discussion of professional morality which is directly linked with the acts and beliefs of the working people especially those craftsmen in the traditional Jewish society. And the professional morality requires the craftsmen to be skilled in their work and be honest to their customers. Then, there will be the extended discussion of the moral issue of Singer's work: the issues of passion and false messianic belief which have close relation with morality. False messianic belief has direct links with the gradual abandoning of moral requirements while passion is an important emotional factor affecting the observance of morality. Three stages of the growth of false messianism are fully exposed: the suffering situation; the crazy behavior of the people; and the totally destructive result and people's deserved endings. And finally the lesson is given for the warning and prevention of this apparently noble but essentially evil belief. In the stories about the theme of passion two kinds are discussed: the rational, sensible and supportive type which helps a person to accomplish a great deed; the other being the excessive, extreme and aberrant type which often leads to a regretful and pitiable result. Appropriate passion can supply a person in a difficult situation with the perseverance to bear hardship and accomplish great achievements while the too strong or the aberrant passion may in certain way harm or destroy people's lives. And aberrant passion can be represented in the trivial things or in people's desire or lust. Finally there is the conclusion in which Singer's major moral views are briefly commented on again. Singer is actually traditional and religious. He impliedly assessed the moral quality of his characters by the traditional standards. Thus he builds a bridge between the concepts of the ancient and modern times for the readers, which may assist them to find the classical examples to help correct their own acts.