摘 要

《店员》是美国最杰出的犹太作家之一伯纳德·马拉默德的代表作。小说主要讲述了意大利店员弗兰克·阿尔派恩在杂货店的犹太店主莫里斯·布伯及其女儿海伦·布伯的影响之下，成功地完成了从一名罪犯、小偷到一名有良知、甘愿受苦受难的“犹太人”的转变的故事。通过塑造弗兰克的形象，作者赞扬了以莫里斯为代表的犹太人虽然饱受生活的不幸和折磨，却依旧坚持内心道德操守的高尚品质。本文主要运用弗洛伊德的人格结构学说来解读弗兰克的心灵重塑历程，并分析莫里斯和海伦对弗兰克心灵重塑产生的重要影响，以及作者展现弗兰克心灵重塑的用意所在，旨在探究犹太文化中犹太人对于道德的认知和理解，为我们提升个人道德修养、形成正确合理的爱情观提出切实可行的建议。

关键词：《店员》；心灵重塑；影响

Abstract

The Assistant is the masterpiece of Bernard Malamud, one of America’s most eminent Jewish writers. The novel mainly illustrates a story that under the influences of the Jewish grocery-owner Morris Bober and his daughter Helen Bober, the Italian assistant Frank Alpine successfully completes the transition from a criminal and thief to a conscious “Jew” willing to suffer. Through shaping the image of Frank, the author compliments the Jews who, although suffering the misfortunes and torments of life, still persist in their moral integrity, of whom Morris is the representative. The paper mainly applies Freud's theory of personality structure to interpret the process of the reestablishment of Frank’s soul, and analyzes the great influences of Morris and Helen on the reestablishment of Frank’s soul, and the author’s purpose for displaying the reestablishment of Frank’s soul, aiming to explore the Jews’ cognition and apprehension of morality in the Jewish culture, raise practical suggestions for us to promote personal morals, to form right and reasonable concept of love.

Key Words: The Assistant; reestablishment of soul; influence

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The Journey of Frank’s Soul: from Degeneration to Rebirth 4

2.1 The Degeneration of Frank’s Soul 4

2.2 The First Repentance of Frank’s Soul 5

2.3 The Disorientation of Frank’s Soul 5

2.4 The Second Repentance of Frank’s Soul 6

2.5 The Repeating Sinking of Frank’s Soul 7

2.6 The Rebirth of Frank’s Soul 8

3 The Reasons for the Reestablishment of Frank’s Soul 9

3.1 The Influences of Morris Bober 9

3.2 The Influences of Helen Bober 10

4 Malamud’s Purposes for Displaying the Reestablishment of Frank’s Soul 12

4.1 The Purpose for Praising the Jewish Moralities 12

4.2 The Purpose for Showing the Theme of Suffering 12

References 15

Acknowledgements 16

The Reestablishment of Frank’s Soul in The Assistant

1 Introduction

Bernard Malamud, as one of the most prominent and well-known Jewish-American writers, has contributed numerous literary works reflecting the Jewish culture to the whole world, of which the novel The Assistant is a masterpiece (Zhao, 2006). It is said that most of his literary works reveal the common destiny of human beings through displaying the fate of the Jews. As an writer full of realism and humanism, Malamud pays much attention to the living conditions and moral pursuits of the Jews (Zhao, 2011). Under his pen, the Jews are depicted as a particular group -- although their life is usually full of kinds of misfortunes and sufferings, they still insist in their moral integrity and abide by the laws instead of carrying out any crime or dishonesty (Wang, 1983). Therefore, studying Malamud’s literary works will be conducive for one to learn something valuable from the Jews, to cultivate the correct moral codes and to become a selfless and conscious person.

The novel The Assistant, firstly published in 1957, is a recipient of the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Zhang, 2009). It primarily tells the readers such a story: the grocery-owner Morris Bober is a benevolent and obliging Jew who comes to America for the purpose of getting rid of czar’s conscription and pursuing a new life. He is always willing to lend others a hand and do good deeds. In addition, he toils almost every day in his store; however, his family still lead an extremely poor life and his business is almost on the verge of bankruptcy. The store is just like a “long dark channel”, “tomb”, “prison” for him and he sees almost no hope. Under the heavy burdens of life, his daughter Helen is also forced to give up the college education and take up a job she dislikes to support the family. Later, an Italian vagrant called Frank Alpine becomes the assistant or clerk of the store. It seems that the business of the grocery has been improving since his coming. Besides, Frank falls in love with Helen who is also gradually moved by him and accepts his love. However, with days passing by, it finally proves that Frank is a criminal who once robbed Morris, and he is a thief often stealing money and food from the store. Morris, after having known the truth, drives Frank away. Then Frank rapes Helen in great desperation. Afterwards, Morris dies, leaving his wife and daughter to stand on their own feet. At the same time, Frank, having been conscious of his guilt and determined to make amends, voluntarily takes up the responsibility and obligation of taking care of the business of the store and supporting Helen’s family. At last, Frank successfully becomes a virtuous Jew like Morris, and the reestablishment of his soul is also proved to be successful.

Many scholars at home and abroad have interpreted The Assistant from the perspectives of “suffering”, “the relationship of father and son” and “symbolism”. However, few of them have ever analyzed the reestablishment of Frank’s soul. Indeed, there are studies closely surrounded with the protagonist Frank. For instance, Guo (2009) researched Frank’s growth, but illustrated Frank’s changes in a rather general way. In comparison, this paper not only expounds Frank’s changes in a concrete way, but also analyzes Malamud’s purpose for displaying the reestablishment of Frank’s soul. Besides, Wang (2012) analyzed the influences of outside surroundings on the development of Frank’s personality, which gives this paper an inspiration to interpret Frank’s transition from another perspective -- the inner psychological structure. Among the theories related to inner psychological structure, Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality structure is quite appropriate to analyze the journey of Frank’s soul.

As the starter of the psychoanalytic school, the psychiatrist and psychologist of Austria, Freud came up with the theory of personality structure, which divides personality into three parts -- id, ego and superego. Id is the most original and difficult part to grasp in one’s personality, which is composed of the inborn impulse. It is only controlled and dominated by the pleasure principle instead of logic, morality and values. As for ego, the main role of it is to adjust the contradiction between id and superego. It regulates id and it is subject to superego. It follows the reality principle and requires to meet the needs of id in a reasonable way. Here, the reality principle temporarily suspends the pleasure principle. Superego belongs to the moral part of the personality structure and follows the moral principle, which has three functions: inhibiting the impulse of id, monitoring id and pursuing the perfect state. Superego is the moralized ego and it is the internalization of the social norms, ethics and values (Chen, 2016).

According to the theory, the reestablishment of Frank’s soul, in a way, can be seen as a fighting between id and ego, superego: at first, Frank’s ego and superego are both subject to id but later, his ego and superego are roused and control id well. In the end, his id, ego and superego form a coordinating and harmonious relationship and he really becomes a saint. When it comes to the reasons of Frank’s successful transition from a criminal to a saint, Morris and Helen’s influences play a significant role. Morris, as a kind and righteous Jew, really sets a good example for Frank through his words and behaviors. He is a mentor of Frank and he continuously guides Frank to observe the law, to be honest and to learn to suffer. With the “education” of Morris, Frank is just like a lonely orphan who finds his father, a homeless vagrant who finds his home and a lost man who finds his goal. Moreover, the power of Frank’s love for Helen and the desire of gaining Helen’s forgiveness after the rape also motivate him to get rid of his vices and become a saint.

2 The Journey of Frank’s Soul: from Degeneration to Rebirth

2.1 The Degeneration of Frank’s Soul

Frank’s childhood is full of miseries and pains. His parents pass away early and he is raised in an orphans’ home. When he was only eight years old, he was farmed out to a tough family. He cannot bear the torture from the family and runs away from it. Finally, he becomes a bum wandering, who cannot find any jobs. He always complains that he has a rough life to almost everyone he encounters. Although he is just twenty-five years old, he looks much older. He often reflects upon the meaning of life when he is alone and he yearns to change his destiny. Without much formal education and right guidance, he goes astray and loses himself. He is so desirous for success and fortune that he even produces the “powerful idea” that he is meant for crime. Success is equal to fortune for him at that time. He is willing to do all the evil things including robberies, assaults and murders so long as they bring him fortune. He even imagines that “at crime he would change his luck, make adventure, live like a prince” (Malamud, 1957: 51). When these extremely wrong thoughts occur in his minds, the moral modes, social rules and laws all yield to his own desire and pleasure. Here begin the degeneration of his soul and his first crime.

According to Freud's theory of personality structure, during this period, Frank is mainly driven by his id for that his minds and actions are mainly dominated by the pleasure principle instead of the reality principle. He is immature and impulsive then, who belittles not only others’ interests and felicity but also society’s moral request on every citizen. He is just like an ignorant baby who has almost no conception of reality, society and morality but just his own needs, happiness and interests. He is totally self-centered and his id prevails during the period of his degeneration (Luo amp; Xia, 2008).

Under the motivation of his id, Frank carries out a holdup together with Ward Minogue. Ward is a lawless bastard, who, in a way, represents Frank’s baser side (Woldenburg, 1998). Rodden (2012: 53) stated that, “Before his job in the grocery, Frank is Ward’s assistant. Ward is Frank’s first foster father, whose depravity and profligacy counterbalance the purity and asceticism of another ‘Frank’. ” The stickup aims at the wealthy liquor dealer Julius Karp at the very start, but finally falls upon Morris Bober. Indeed, Frank is rather hesitant and struggling inside before robbing Morris because he is aware that Morris is just a poor grocer whose business is bleak and he is not willing to make Morris’ situation worse. Though he has experienced inner struggles, he still takes the risk of doing the holdup finally. As to the reasons for his final compromise, Ward’s urgent encouragement may play a role, but the more important reason is that his ego and superego are still too weak to control the impulse of his id. In this situation, his takes the first wrong step of his life.

2.2 The First Repentance of Frank’s Soul

As a matter of fact, although Frank is a youth corroded by the cruel society, there is still conscience and morality remaining in his soul. The story of the saint St. Francis of Assisi has been influencing him since his childhood and he has been dreaming of becoming a benevolent man like St. Francis. Thus, it lays the foundation for the first repentance of his soul.