T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

the relationship develops, the quester becomlng the victim and~lce-versa. These relatlonships demand of the protagonist thathe drop his mask and become aware of h ~ s essential humanity,and understand his real human need. Quite often it involves amoral problem as in the case of Levln.The quintessentialMalamud plot is therefore one in which the values placed on thefree-flowing feelings of the heart are pitted against moralflrmness and ictelllgence each testlng, connecting andfortifying the other.The sufferlpg of Jews lncludlng the tragedy ofdestruction of six million has cast a distinct stamp on thesensltive mind of Malamud and "he feels the need on the part ofa writer to 'cry' about itn.(Wershba 1958.2721. He also assertsthat "Jews are absulutely the very stuff of drama" (Candee1958,272). D~splte these assertions, Malamud In hls worktranscends tne reqlonallsm and ethnlc barrlers In his depictionof human suffering and complexity of life.The Jewish experience which Malamud dramatizes in thisplot throws his protagonists into its rich content and action.It recognizes the llmltatlons of the human conditions and thereality of suffering as the only reallty there can be to life.Secondly, llfe belng what lt is, man must learn to endure it,acquiesce in it but with hope.Endurance presupposesacceptance of suffering in one's ow3 life and In others, of the