Breaking Through The Cage

Bernard Malamud(1914-1986)is an American Jewish writer par excellence in the twentieth century,and remains a dominant voice in American letters.Malamud creates many brilliant works throughout his literary career,and his masterpiece The Fixer provides an authentic depiction of the misery lives of Jews under the oppression of anti-Semitism,concerning the fixer Yakov,who is falsely accused of murdering a Russian boy by anti-Semites.With Malamud?s consummate narrative technique,artful storyline design,unique satirical art and deep investment in Jewish predicament,the novel has drawn much attention of scholars since its publication.Scholars at home and abroad have performed studies on The Fixer mainly from the aspects of archetype,theme and Jewishness,but few critics utilize spatial criticism theory to study the novel.Thus,this thesis sets The Fixer within the framework of Lefebvre?s spatial criticism to probe into how the protagonist Yakov breaks through his cage and gains freedom from the perspective of physical space,social space and mental space.Based on Lefebvre?s spatial criticism,this thesis tries to analyze the oppression on Yakov and his rebellion against it in tsarist Russian society.In physical space,Yakov is restrained to the tough Jewish space and confined prison space successively.In social space,Yakov survives under the tight domination,undergoing ubiquitous exclusion outside the prison,and experiencing endless discipline in the prison.In mental space,the plight in physical space and social space incurs his mental torture,causing his being out of control in emotion and full of hatred towards reality permanently.However,Yakov doesn?t surrender to oppression but triggers brave rebellion.In order to pursue freedom,in physical space,he leaves tough Jewish space and fights against confined prison space;in social space,he copes tactfully with exclusion and protests firmly against discipline;in mental space,he regulates his emotion through positive thinking,releases his hatred through rational reflection,and finally achieves spiritual awakening,realizing that only by way of rebellion,will he regain liberty.At the end of this story,Yakov obtains the opportunity of new trial which can prove his innocence.In The Fixer,the whole Russian society is virtually a cage,which deprives Yakov of freedom.Nevertheless,Yakov chooses not to be a docile “prisoner” but to be a courageous “warrior” who breaks through his cage in the end.Malamud?s The Fixer gives an inspiration to people under oppression that only through unswerving rebellion,can they free themselves from oppressive cage.