Juxtaposing Judaism and American Dream in Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant

Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant (1957) heralded a new era in the realm of Jewish-American fiction writing because of its strong Jewish theme and incorporation of American values. The main characters, Frank Alpine and Morris Bober stand for two opposing ideals of American society: material pursuit and moral values. The novel is a strong condemnation of American values because the good and the decent people are not honoured by the American society. Malamud’s negation of society’s values is insidious; in the end, even those who are close to the moral man and who recognize his inherent worth see him as a failure because he must lead a lesser life in material terms. In The Assistant, it is Frank Alpine who mostly benefits from Morris’ example and who carries the metaphoric idea of Jewishness to new areas beyond Morris’definition. Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant which contains a strong Jewish theme by using the image of the Jew and the prin-ciples of Judaism also incorporates the values of American Dream. The main characters, Frank Alpine and Morris Bober exemplify the basic values of the novel. Frank is shown to be imbibing “Jewish ” values from Morris and with Morris ’ death, Frank replaces him both in the store and in terms of havin