T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

to higher moral questions, questions of justice, questions ofduty of honour". (1978,421 A struggle to overcome egotism withuniversal love characterises the ordeal of all Bellow'sprotaganists. Joseph in The Danalinq llEn fails in his attemptto find answer to the vital question of "How should a good manlive: what ought he to do?". (Bellow 1944,39)Malamud also starts with a victim hero in his firstnovel, The Natural, and comes to wrlte about a survivor hero inhis fourth novel, Fixer. Between these two novels,Malamud's vision of life undergoes a subtle and progressivechange. The emergent view of the human life is neither pitchblack nor dazzling bright; it is "predominantly moral". (Rajan1977,3) In Bellow's novels, the anarchic social conditions takeexpression through certaln individuals who push theprotagonists into a "psychic dilemma". In Malamud's novels, thesoclal evlls explolt the personal weaknesses of theprotagonists, creating a "moral predicament" for them. Bellow'sprotagonists struggle with social compulsions to protectthemselve from spiritual debasement. Malamud's protagonistsfight against thelr own moral perversions to save themselvesfrom human degradation. Therefore, Bellow's protagonistsundergo a psychological transformation whlle struggling againsttheir circumstances.And, Malamud's protagonists witness a moral growth while