The German Refugee

"Life is a tragedy full of
joy."

Bernard Malamud: Novelist, Writer, Immigrant

"He never forgets that he is an American Jew, and he is at his best when posing the situation of a Jew in urban American society." (Anthony Burgess)

"If you live, you suffer. Some people suffer more, but not because they want. But I think if a Jew don't suffer for the Law, he will suffer for nothing." "What do you suffer for, Morris?" Frank said. "I suffer for you," Morris said calmly. ("The Assistant," Bernard Malamud)

“THE TENANTS is based on the novel by Bernard Malamud. It is the story of a Jewish novelist, Harry Lesser, struggling to complete his latest work, and his antagonistic relationship with a black writer who moves in down the hall.” This video caught my eye, because it was written by Malamud, who wrote “The German Refugee” and because it stars Snoop Dogg!


Biographical information:

Bernard Malamud was born in New York to Russian immigrant parents. He is considered the most important writers of Jewish-American literature. He is most famous, however, for the film adaptation of his novel “The Natural,” which starred Robert Redford. Malamud's stories, like The German Refugee, are a mixture of many styles. He combines tragedy and comedy, and reality and fantasy. Mostly, his work has a moral focus, where the characters often suffer until they understand their heavy moral responsibility as human beings. Malamud uses Jewish people, symbols and events to illustrate his themes of “sin, suffering, and redemption.” (Encyclopedia of World Biography 2007) His characters are strange and awkward, living alone and sad. The plots may seem simple, focusing on unimportant events and painful obstacles. However, it is how these characters fight to survive, in the face of these obstacles, that Malamud teaches the reader about the importanceof living correctly and how to be human in the face of sin.

Summary:

The title character of The German Refugee is Oskar, a Jewish journalist who has escaped the Nazi’s in 1938. Oskar is Jewish and also German, and that is the central conflict, of the many that he faces, in this sad short story. Oskar may be Jewish, but speaks, writes and thinks in German, a language and culture that he now hates. This hatred creates obstacles for Oskar, as he tries to re-start his life in New York City. The story centers around Oskar’s relationship with his tutor. Oskar must deliver a speech about German literature, but he cannot becuase he hates all things German, yet he does not feel comfort with English. The story follows Oskar as he overcomes his fear of the presentation, and finally feels that has left the isolation and self-hatred of being the German Refugee. Throughout the lessons of tutoring, the tutor learns of Oskar's past, specifically his wife, whom he felt never loved him, becuase he thought her anti-Semitic. The story's climax is not the moment when Oskar delivers his speech. After his success, the tutor finds his dead from suicide, shocked and confused that after his struggle and success, oskar would kill himself. After reviewing Oskar's papers, which Oskar left to the tutor along with all his worldly possessions, is a letter from his mother-in-law: after Oskar left his wife, she converted to Judaism to maintain a connection with the husband who left her. When the Nazi's arrived to the house, Oskar's wife was taken and shot dead; her body was dumped in a mass grave.....

Questions:

1. Is there more than guilt as the reason to Oskar's suicide?

2. How come he didn't find out about his wife converting to Judaism until after he committed suicide?

3. If Oskar would've known about what his wife did for him....would the story end any differently?

Themes:

Isolation

Isolation is very common post war fiction. Imagine moving into a new country and leaving your wife and cutlrue behind? Oskar arrived a the United States forgetting the language the culture or knowing any of the culture. Oskar was so isolated in his own little world - not an American and hating his German-ness - that he thought about suicide in the begining of the story. He overcomes the isolation only to commit suicide at the end of the story, after learning of his wife's murder.

Struggle / Renewel

The struggle of renewel in a new country occurs all the time through out the story. When Oskar arrived in the US he had to give a lecture at a University but he had no clue how to speak English. Oskar had to struggle to learn how to speak the common language. Anther example of struggling in a new country would be adjusting to the culture. Struggling in a new country also relates to the theme of love. Imagine never seeing your own wife ever again, and not knowing what in the world is going on with her?

Anti- Semitism

Anti-Semitism is found all over the story. An example of Anti-Semitism would be when the Nazi Germany began to exterminate the Jews, and Oskar had to leave his home town and come to the United States in order to live a new life without being persecuted for hisreligioun. Another example of Anti-Semitsm is when Oskar's wife converts to Judaism in order to stay with her own husband but is killed by the Nazi's, soon after he leaves her.

Unconditional Love

Unconditional love is expressed in the story through the German's wife. At the end of the story, she converts to Judaism in order to stay connected with her husband. Although he left her, believing the worst of her because she was German, his error is grave. The Nazi's came and killed her for being Jewish.


Readers Response

This story tells discusses the struggles people go through with love, anit-semitism, isolation, renewal, and moral responsibilities. This story is like a sad parable: where the characters, the tutor, Oskar and his wife learn their moral responsibilties - but all too late. The German refugee symbolizes all people who suffer and must overcome their pain and isolation. The final lesson seems shocking and unfair but a reminder that we must remain faithful to those who love us, no matter how much we may fear the unknown.

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.