Elsewhere, Perhaps: Analysis of Major Characters
"Elsewhere, Perhaps" provides a nuanced exploration of the major characters within a kibbutz setting, focusing on their complex relationships and emotional landscapes. At the center is Reuven Harish, a multifaceted figure who embodies the intellectual and emotional dimensions of kibbutz life. He grapples with personal loss and familial responsibilities while engaging in both education and tourism, revealing the intricacies of community dynamics. Noga Harish, Reuven's sixteen-year-old daughter, navigates her own tumultuous path as she balances familial legacy with burgeoning sexuality, ultimately facing the consequences of her choices in a community steeped in tradition.
Ezra Berger, a truck driver and husband to Reuven’s lover, Bronka, represents the labor-centric lifestyle of the kibbutz, while Bronka herself serves as a link between the past and present relationships within the community. The characters are interwoven with themes of desire, betrayal, and cultural identity, exemplified by Zechariah Siegfried Berger, who contrasts the ideals of Zionism with the harsh realities of postwar life. Meanwhile, Rami Rominov, Noga's suitor, embodies the struggle of youth in a society preparing for conflict, illustrating the weight of expectation and vulnerability. Through these characters, the narrative delves into the emotional fabric of kibbutz society, highlighting the interplay of personal and collective histories.
Elsewhere, Perhaps: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Amos Oz
First published: Ma'kom a'her, 1966 (English translation, 1973)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Kibbutz Metsudat Ram, near the Israeli-Jordanian border
Plot: Social realism
Time: Early 1960'sThe early 1960's
Reuven Harish (originally Harismann), the most complex figure in the book, who seems to assume many different character roles. This diversity may be governed by the intellectual distance that separates him from the simpler, earthier image of most of the other characters. He is not only a poet but also a principal teacher responsible for the educational program within the kibbutz. A second aspect of Harish's existence is his function as guide for tourists who visit Kibbutz Metsudat Ram. Through Harish, the novel reveals the totality not only of the social and material foundations of kibbutz life but also of its inner emotional experiences. Having lost his wife to an urbane lover (and cousin) who, after a brief visit to Kibbutz Metsudat Ram, took her back to the material comfort and moral decadence of postwar Germany, Harish accepts the modest responsibility of caring for his two children. Although he is hurt by the loss of his wife, he finds solace and carnal satisfaction, but no real emotional security, in the plain person and austere home environment of Bronka Berger, the wife of a rough-hewn truck driver, with whom he shares secret hours.
Noga Harish, also called Stella Maris (for her maternal grandmother) and Turquoise, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Reuven. Because of her lithe body and skills as a dancer, Noga is chosen to play the part of the fertile vine in an important annual kibbutz ceremonial celebration. There are at least two mysterious sides to young Noga. One suggests a reflection in her of the lascivious charms of her mother, who caused scandal in the kibbutz by abandoning her husband and two children to run off with another man. The other is a childlike image that is apparent in the first stage of her relationship with truck driver Ezra Berger, who does small favors for her. This latter image disappears as Ezra not only becomes her lover but also causes her to become pregnant. Eventually, after taunting, then shunning, her original suitor, the young Rami Rominov, Noga returns not to their love but to the symbol of kibbutz community continuity that their union seems to represent.
Ezra Berger, a truck driver and husband to Reuven Harish's lover, Bronka. Berger represents, more than any other character, the sweat and toil of kibbutz existence. His needs in his conjugal home are basic. The rhythm of his life seems to be dominated by the regularity of his twice-daily runs to the city and continual reference to the wisdom of biblical adages. Even when Berger's simple favors for Noga Harish turn into a relationship of intimacy and scandal, the impression is not that the visibly anomalous seduction was motivated by a desire to punish Noga's father for his affair with Berger's wife. Once Noga discovers her pregnancy, Ezra ceases to be a focal figure. In fact, somewhat ironically, Fruma Rominov, the mother of Noga's original suitor, takes over some of the responsibilities of caring for the young girl as Berger returns to his regular double schedule of truck runs.
Bronka Berger, the wife of Ezra and lover of Reuven Harish. Although Bronka shares with Reuven a certain attraction to higher cultural and intellectual interests, the monotony of her childless marriage to Ezra is, like her husband's job itself, nearly mechanical. Late at night, after Reuven has left, Bronka faithfully leaves a warm cup of tea for her returning husband. Weekly, she provides him with an impeccably clean change of work clothes. Beyond these duties, Bronka's most important function seems to be acting as an intermediary between Reuven and the wife who left him to marry the partner of her brother-in-law in Munich. Letters to Bronka's husband from his brother Zechariah often contain messages from Reuven's former wife, which Bronka passes on to her lover.
Zechariah Siegfried Berger, the brother of Ezra who, instead of dedicating himself to the idealized re-creation of Israel through the experiment of Zionism following World War II, returned to Germany. To the disgust of Israeli Jews, men such as Zechariah are able to extract considerable profit from investments in the reconstructed but artificial economy of postwar Munich. He runs a nightclub in partnership with the man who tempted Eva Harish away from Reuven and took her to Germany. When Zechariah visits Kibbutz Metsudat Ram, he is disdained: He bears expensive German-made gifts and dresses as if he were immune to the dust and sweat of the kibbutz. He befriends Noga Harish, however, in her time of embarrassed need and tries to convince her, though not without hopeful self-interest, that she should rejoin her mother abroad.
Avraham Rominov, or Rami Rimon, the eighteen-year-old suitor of Noga Harish. Rami represents the image of the necessary preparedness of Israeli youth for confrontation with the enemy. Rami must also prepare himself psychologically for the possibility of being rebuffed by Noga. He does this initially by conjuring up an image of himself as a soldier-martyr whose death will bring remorse to the girl who played with his emotional vulnerability. This morbid tendency even pushes him so far that he risks death in a solitary bout of Russian roulette. When he is actually called for military service, he throws his entire energies into the process of physical training, making certain to reject publicly his mother's signs of maternal worry and care for her son's welfare.