T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

completely unanchored, groping for a workable set of morals anda desirable mode of living. Rut never do they run away fromtheir problems, no1 succumb to their weaknesses. Malamud'sprotagonists are fighters by nature, they make persistentefforts to bring about a change ln their moral outlook bylearnina from their failures. In Halamud's view, man is alwaysamenable to moral growth through his struggle and suffering.Therefore, his characters acquire a new moral awareness as theyintensify their struggle for survival. Their changing outlookhelps them to develop a pattern of llfe i>phlch ensures themhumanity, identity and dlgnity, for Malamud belleves that manis always changing and that the changed part of him is allimportant.Spurning the gloomy state of affairs in the modern world,Malamud professes faith In humanity. He strikes a note ofafflrmatlon in hls belief that "we will not destroy eachother.. . . we will live on".The world view projected byMalamud In hls work 1s thus qualified by a moral vision. Anintense reverence for man and his dignlty informs his vision.It is in defense of the human that his fiction prescribes thevalue OF compassion revealing "what lt is to be human, to behumane". (Roth 1961, 229) Art for Malamud tends towardsmorality and morality in his own words, "begins with anawareness of the sanctity of one's life". (Quoted in Stern