Gimpel the Fool - Book Report/Review Example

? Gimpel the Fool ‘Gimpel the Fool’ Literature has always been regarded as a window to the soul. Further than that, it has been regarded as a window to entire societies. Cultural, social and historical specificities about a particular society can be deduced from reading the literature of that society. However, all this does not happen by good fortune. The author has to make a conscious effort of employing certain elements of literature within his/ her works so as to make such qualities more visible and even interesting to the reader. These elements include but are not limited to language, genre, context, narrative and character. All these come together to give us an all rounded picture about whichever society we are studying. This paper shall seek to evaluate the above stated elements with the objective of establishing any relations between language and the social, cultural and historical themes in a work of literature of my choice. This shall be ‘Gimpel the Fool’ by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This author has made a name writing in Yiddish. His works have been translated to several other languages and so he should be a natural candidate in a paper of this kind where the discussion on usage of language is so central. The story fits our purpose in more ways than one however. It was published in 1945, within the 20th Century timeframe that I was to work within. The story revolves around a character called Gimpel. This is a character that comes across as very easy to fool, thus the title. All sorts of jokes and teases are made against him but he does not retaliate. The story then narrates several of these ordeals in which Gimpel is fooled. The story however, aims to put across much more subtle truths using what could come across as quotidian events. These issues include faith, love and evil. These are very important because the author came from a very pious background (Seidman, 2004). Language is central in this piece of literature. It must be said that the writer wrote in Yiddish and then the works got translated to other languages, including English. One of the most notable things in as far as language is concerned is its simplicity. The writer seems to use the best words in the best positions. There does not seem to be any of the ostentatious nature we associate with writers elsewhere. For example, the short story begins with the sentence ‘I am Gimpel the fool.’ This is the sort of simplicity and straightforwardness that few have been lauded for in the past most notably Ernest Hemingway. This simplicity has many contributions to make to a work of literature (Hadda, 1990). First of all, when writing about a foreign culture, using complex language makes it double hard for the reader who might not be from that culture to relate with whatever is written about in that literature. Yiddish culture is full of ceremonies for instance as can be drawn from this text. Using simple language to describe these unknowns therefore is the best approach. Narrative and character are also very important in any piece of literature. The same is the case in this short story. The story is narrated by Gimpel himself. This first hand account is fashioned to achieve several objectives. One of the objectives is that it is meant to give the narrator the chance to say something about himself. We realize that in the short story, there is virtually nobody who shares the same attitude and foolishness of Gimpel (Seidman, 2004). Therefore in a way, nobody can be used to speak on his behalf. The narration is his chance therefore to answer his doubters and leg pullers because none of them listen to him either. We witness many times Gimpel saying that ‘he does not think himself a fool’ but rather just a victim of his own belief. Character is also a very important part of the overall effectiveness of the short story. The main character in this short story of course is Gimpel. He is the butt of jokes from the townspeople. The character is well developed to suit this role. He does not retaliate to start with. He merely chooses to forgive those who lie and deceive him. This is a central part of building his character because had he been reacting to these hoaxes, they would stop altogether and the story would lose its meaning being that there would not be a fool anymore. Character in this story is also key because we realize that Gimpel is an orphan. In any society these are supposed to be people who are treated with a certain degree of consideration and empathy. His parents died while young and he had to be raised by a grandparent who ‘was already bent toward the grave’. This is a very poignant description that attracts a lot of compassion towards this character. Add on to that a society that is very evil minded instead and that is where the mercy that is associated with his character arises (Yezierska, 1957). Language also relates very closely to the social, cultural and historical background of a certain community. The society we witness in this case is one that is very harsh toward the main character. They may have religion but they do not seem to adhere a lot to it. Language in this case helps us for instance to describe the hypocrisy of this society. For instance there is a saying in the short story that people should not fool orphans. Gimpel tells this to Elka but she proceeds still to fool him. This shows certain hypocrisy in the values and the value systems of the people who are involved. There is also another sense in which language is used to great effect. Language seeks to show the innocence, or lack of it, and tolerance in a society. Innocence in this case is portrayed through Gimpel. He is seen by many as a blank slate on which each of them has to register their joke. There is also the issue of tolerance which is closely related to the innocence. The innocence of the young Gimpel is abused when the townspeople start pulling his leg even as a very young child working at the bakery. Initially, such jokes work a treat because mostly, he is young and therefore ignorant. However, even after growing up, he does not seem to have outgrown such jokes. This is perhaps because they have become part of his sub-conscious self (Hadda, 1990). On the other part, there is an argument to be made of the fact that all these jokes come off simply because the people around him lack tolerance. Language is used to present all these hoaxes. We are for instance told that Gimpel was fooled that the moon had fallen in Turbeen or where he is fooled that ‘little Hodel Furpiece found a treasure behind the bathhouse’. All these are presented in very colorful language and that is perhaps part of the reason that the main character seems to fall for them. Therefore the role of language in terms of reflecting the society is huge. Language is also used to reflect the culture. There are several religious festivals and religious symbols that are referred to throughout the story. For instance there is the Tishe b’Av fast day. This is used to show that the culture is closely attuned to religion. We also witness that once Gimpel has a problem, he seeks the counsel of the Rabbi, a Jewish religious leader. The rest of the community does the same too (Seisman, 2004). This religious piety therefore seems far removed from some of the acts that they are trick Gimpel into doing. There should be some restraint on their part. For instance, the jokes should not extend into the realm of marriage. Gimpel wished to go to a far off village to find himself a spouse. Instead the community convinced him to marry the village harlot. This is very obscene and goes against all religious teaching. It should indeed be taboo in all cultures (Seisman, 2004). Language can also be used to shed light to historical happenings. The history of the Jewish community for instance has been well documented over the years. They underwent years of persecution until they came to have their homeland in Israel. Some people have likened the tribulations of Gimpel in this story to the wandering of the Jews through the desert. We realize that at the very end, Gimpel loses faith when he realizes that the baby Elka gave birth to is not his (Singer, 2006). This might be the biblical equivalent of the Israelites wandering in the desert and losing faith in God when their arrival to the Promised Land was long in coming (Bashevis, 1999). Gimpel in many ways too seems to resemble the Wandering Jew as he tries to find solutions to very disturbing questions about his own faith. He also starts wishing he were dead. All this is evidence that he might have realized that the world is full of evil and only in heaven can he find the peace and wisdom and faith that come with religion. Another thing worth noting as far as the historical context is concerned, is the place of the Rabbi. This was the spiritual head of the village and the community at large. This indeed shows the huge trust that the people paid to religion. Political establishments had not been formed. It is even more baffling that we are reading a story that was created in Poland at the middle of the 20th Century. Even there religion still ruled supreme (Yezierska, 1957). All in all, there are several things that affect the effectiveness of a work of literature as has already been seen above. The author can employ narrative, language, context and other considerations to great effect. However, there have to be other extra-linguistic considerations that have to be made for the literature to be seen as truly effective. They include the social, cultural and historical contexts. These place the work of literature in a space and a time not merely in a vacuum. References Singer, I.S. (2006). Gimpel the Fool. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishers Yezierska, A. (1957). With the Sap of Folklore. The New York Times. Retrieved May 1 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/25/home/singer-gimpel.html Hadda, J. (1990). Gimpel the Fool. A Journal of Jewish Literary History 10 (1): 283-294. Bashevis, I. (1999). Gimpel the Fool. Literary Culture: Reading and Writing Literary Arguments. Needham Heights, MA: Simon and Schuster Seidman, N. (2004). Who’s the fool: Isaac Bashevis Singer in America. New York: Routledge Read More