T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

militancy. Malamud'sprotagonists arrive at a sense ofaffirmation at the end of the novels and grow into realmanhood. Their affirmation in the novels arise out of an act offaith, out of a real commitment towards life, which speaks ofhuman grandeur that makes life more than a mere process.The way a person handles heights and depths of thechallenges is the measure of histher manhood/womanhood. Theyardstick 1s the continuum of experiences and each line ofmeasurement marks a challenge that lifeputs to theindividual. Malanud's and Mukherjee's view of life to someextent opposes the Amerlcan society's materialistic equation ofmanhood/womanhood and money wlth success. Both Malamud andMukherjee express; their affirmation with a commitment to lifebased on noble >.deals. Bymoving Into the hostile Russiannelghbourhood Yakov Bok shows his act of faith and affirmationof indestruct1b;llty of the human spirit. The flnal moments inthe novel The Fixer are very touchingly shown and lt once againhighlights the theme of growth and maturity whlch in itself isaffirmation. Levin's simple act of affirmation reflects in A- New Liff: his hex.olsm and direct reflection of the AmericanDream. Levln's rffirrratloi~ at the end of the novel, showing himclose to nie ~.oots, m.3):es him rot only a true ~ewish hero butalso a universal one.~ h ~ ~ Malamud ~ has ~ expressed h universal