The key to understanding "The Key"

Isaac Bashevis Singer, author of "The Key," won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 (watch part of his acceptance speech above)

The Key? "Kindness,
I've discovered, is everything in life." (Isaac Bashevis Singer)

Who was Isaac Bashevis Singer?

He was a Nobel Prize winner, who was born in Poland but became an American writer and journalist. He wrote mostly about Polish life and the Jewish faith. He didn’t feel his job as a writer was to teach or save people but just to tell stories. Singer was raised in a very traditional Jewish household. His father was a rabbi, and he was raised in a traditional Jewish town in the area of Poland restricted to non-Jews. His family was very literate and told stories. He “published 18 novels, 14 children's books, a number of essays, articles, and reviews,” and short stories. He always wrote in Yiddish first, because he said he liked to write ghost stories and that a dying language was beshttp://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ibsinger.htmt for that!. One aspect of his writing that is very evident in “The Key” is the aspect of our lives that deals with spirituality and magic. He died in 1991.

What was "The Key" about?

Bessie Popkins lives alone in her cramped New York apartment, waiting for a reunion with her beloved husband who died twenty years earlier. She hides in her home, sure that every person outside will steal from her, rob her, or hurt her in some way. More and more, she never leaves. However, one day she must go to the supermarket and takes two hours to finish her errand, because she is tortured by her fears of contact with others. When she gets home to her door, exhausted, she breaks the key in her lock. She refuses to speak to neighbors or the handyman, because she distrusts them all. So, she leaves again, in search of a locksmith. Bessie becomes more fearful as night falls and becomes confused and disoriented. She has no friends or family to count on, and she falls asleep in the doorway of a church. During the night, she experiences a change: she experiences life differently. No longer does she distrust people, she sees that people need each other and that others are worthy of love. Her neighbors, strangers and the handyman all assist her and demonstrate that her fears were not real, and that she had missed much of life. That evening, exhausted from the spiritual experience, she finally meets with her husband, Sam, and dies.

What questions do I have about the story?
1. How come it took the main character so much time in order to realize that she can live a happy life with all the problems she had?

2. How come anybody didnt help her, did anyone know that she needed any help?

3. What happened when she walked through the park that made her change her mind all of a sudden?

4. What does the key represent in the movie?

5. Is the butterfly Sam or her own soul?

What are some themes in the story?

Fear: Fear is what kept the main character from conquering her isolation and reaching her hope. The main character is afraid to move on in life. The main character was slowed down by fear and isolation. An example of fear would be when her key broke, and she was scared to go walk out on the street, beacuse she couldn't see very well and didn't trsut others to help her.

Hope: Hope is the only thing in our ody that keeps us running. Hope is found in "The Key" at the end when she realizes that all people are worth love and respoect. She sees that all she does is look at the negative aspects in her life (blind, poor, alone, and widowed), when she should really be thinking positively about what's good in the world. She still has a life to live, despite the death of Sam, and she might as well live a happy one.

Isolation: Isolation is found all through out the story when the main character loses her husband and makes herself all alone in the world without any help. Besse is a sick, elderly woman who lives her life not depending on others to help her get through the day, at great cost. The main character has nobody to protect he or care for her, after twenty years of living an isolated life. The cost is distrust, fear, paranoia, sadness.

Redemption: Besse is finally redeemed from her life of tragic loneliness and fear, when she is ironically forced out into the world by the key that kept the world out. When the key breaks, so does bessie's old life. The only way back in to her old life is to fix the "key." Instead, the broken key forces Bessie to rely on others and becomes a key to let othersinto her life. When she opens herself to others, it is like she is spiritually ready to meet Sam again. That's why I believe he was the butterfly, reborn.

What was my response to "The Key"?

I belive that this story is an inspiration to all in which read it. This story discusses the struggle of hope and isolation. In this story, I learned that if one passes away it is not your duty to live the rest of your life in distress. You need to learn how to be happy. An example of this would be when at the end she makes a huge turn around at the end of the story in order to get her life back on track.The moral of this story is that love is all around us, not just in a few "key" relationships. Once we are able to give our love freely, without fear, we will receive love in great amounts, freely.