A Structuralist Reading Of The Assistant

The Assistant has attracted many readers and scholars since its publication. It has been considered as one of the outstanding works in the world literature. In The Assistant Bernard Malamud successfully creates the protagonist — Frank, and shows Frank’s progress of changing from a bad guy to a good man. The Assistant has been studied by different critics from different perspectives, such as cultural studies, the psychoanalysis, the Jewishness, the suffering and the father-son relationship. Among all those criticisms, the author of this thesis finds out that, by far, only few critics analyzed this novel from the perspective of structuralism.This thesis aims to study The Assistant from the perspective of structuralism, especially, focuses on the binary opposition and Todorov’s narrative "grammar" The thesis explores the binary opposition existing both in Frank’s dispositions and his relationship with other characters. Frank is a man with "split" personality. He is virtuous like Morris while simultaneously immoral like Karp; He is hopeful for future like Helen while absolutely desperate like Ward; He focuses on spiritual value like Helen and Morris while at the same time he is materialistic like Karp and Ward. Thus each character in The Assistant symbolizes one side of Frank’s dispositions. Moreover. Frank finds his place and identity by establishing relationships with other characters:He is a son relative to his father Morris; He is a man relative to his woman Helen; He is non-Jew relative to the Jewish. By analyzing Frank’s character, disposition and actions, the thesis draws a conclusion that making a right choice is vital to a person’s growth, just as the case of Frank who developed into a good man by surmounting many obstacles, adjusting and making many right choices on the way of his growing. As a representative figure, Frank’s spiritual growth creates an inspiration to modern readers with its wholeness and humanness, enlightens the readers to reflect on their own life and self-development.