READING THE SLAVE
I am currently reading through the Slave (I am on page 110). A couple of things about the book have struck me as interesting. The first is Jacob's constant questioning of the justice of God - which, if you've read Malachi, often ends up warranting some kind of punishment from Him. This is also a concept that we have talked about in class - as Sexon reminded us, the term is "Theodicy".
The second point thing I have to say is a criticism of the book. I like the story, and the relationship between Jacob and Wanda helps pull the slow parts along, but I have been dissappointed with the stereotypes that seem to abound in the book. Over and over again we have to hear about how every single (with very very few exeptions) Cossack and Protestant is a filthy, degenerate, ugly, evil person. And I'm not saying that he is discriminating, he makes many of the Jews seem selfish and self-absored as well. I'm just getting a little bored with the whole thing, it's like Singer just won't stop beating me over the head with it. Other than that, I find his observations interesting, and the tracing of Jacob's slowly degenerating spiritual life seems very realistic.
Another point I found interesting was Singer's description of rich Jews in Josefov, who "would rather have died than break the smallest of [the] ritualistic laws, slandered and gossiped openly, and treated the poor with contempt. Scholars lorded it over the ignorant; the elders divided privilages and preferments among themselves and their relatives and exploited people generally." Compare that to what Jesus says in Matthew 23: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them...Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness." Essentially, Christ and Singer are making the same point. I think Singer does a good job of setting this up, and perhaps that is why he insists on the over-characterization that I talked about earlier. But I think we can all agree that we got the picture.
I am currently reading through the Slave (I am on page 110). A couple of things about the book have struck me as interesting. The first is Jacob's constant questioning of the justice of God - which, if you've read Malachi, often ends up warranting some kind of punishment from Him. This is also a concept that we have talked about in class - as Sexon reminded us, the term is "Theodicy".
The second point thing I have to say is a criticism of the book. I like the story, and the relationship between Jacob and Wanda helps pull the slow parts along, but I have been dissappointed with the stereotypes that seem to abound in the book. Over and over again we have to hear about how every single (with very very few exeptions) Cossack and Protestant is a filthy, degenerate, ugly, evil person. And I'm not saying that he is discriminating, he makes many of the Jews seem selfish and self-absored as well. I'm just getting a little bored with the whole thing, it's like Singer just won't stop beating me over the head with it. Other than that, I find his observations interesting, and the tracing of Jacob's slowly degenerating spiritual life seems very realistic.
Another point I found interesting was Singer's description of rich Jews in Josefov, who "would rather have died than break the smallest of [the] ritualistic laws, slandered and gossiped openly, and treated the poor with contempt. Scholars lorded it over the ignorant; the elders divided privilages and preferments among themselves and their relatives and exploited people generally." Compare that to what Jesus says in Matthew 23: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them...Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness." Essentially, Christ and Singer are making the same point. I think Singer does a good job of setting this up, and perhaps that is why he insists on the over-characterization that I talked about earlier. But I think we can all agree that we got the picture.
posted by Matt McLeod at 3:26 PM
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