Job: The Story of a Simple Man: Analysis of Major Characters
"Job: The Story of a Simple Man" explores the life of Mendel Singer, a devout and ordinary Jewish teacher who faces immense personal challenges. Set against the backdrop of early 20th century Eastern Europe and later America, the narrative delves into Mendel's struggles with faith and family, particularly after the birth of his son Menuchim, who is physically and mentally impaired. As Mendel's family experiences loss and hardship, including the death of his wife Deborah and the turmoil of his daughter Miriam's mental health, the story highlights the tensions between tradition and the quest for personal freedom.
Key characters include Deborah, who embodies a pragmatic approach to hardship, and their sons: Jonas, who rebels against religious constraints by joining the army, and Shemariah, who assimilates into American life but finds little satisfaction. The reappearance of Menuchim, once believed lost, becomes a pivotal moment of hope and renewal for Mendel. Other figures, like the good-natured Sameshkin and the resourceful Kapturak, add depth to the community dynamics. This story paints a poignant picture of resilience, faith, and the complex interplay of familial bonds amidst adversity.
Job: The Story of a Simple Man: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Joseph Roth
First published: Hiob: Roman eines einfachen Mannes, 1930 (English translation, 1931)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Zuchnow, the Ukraine, and New York City
Plot: Parable
Time: c. 1885–1920
Mendel Singer, a children's teacher of Hebrew and the Bible. Thirty years old at the beginning of the novel, he is “pious, God-fearing, and ordinary, an entirely commonplace Jew.” When he learns that his fourth child, Menuchim, is physically and mentally retarded, he accepts this as the will of God. When he later finds his daughter Miriam with a Cossack, he fears shame to the family and immigrates with her and his wife to America. Years later, he still dreams longingly of Menuchim, left behind in Russia. Already aged and bent in his early sixties, he loses his remaining family to death and mental illness, and in his anguish he blasphemes God for His cruelty. The appearance of Menuchim, who was long believed dead, restores his faith and gives him hope for his last years.
Deborah, Mendel's wife. She is unhappy with her husband's lowly status, his meager earnings, and the hardships of her life with four children. More resolute than he, she believes that God helps those who help themselves. She therefore enables her son Shemariah to escape conscription by having him smuggled across the border. In New York, she is embittered by her pinched circumstances, and she misses Menuchim. After learning that Shemariah has fallen as an American soldier in World War I, she dies of grief.
Jonas, the eldest son. Robust and earthy, he behaves more like a peasant youth than an orthodox Jew. He loves horses and drinking, and he sleeps with the village girls. Wishing to be a soldier, he joins the czar's army, thus placing himself beyond the bounds of Jewish religious law and practice. Later, the news that he is missing in the war compounds his father's grief.
Shemariah (sheh-MAHR-ee-ah), the middle son. Slight but quick-witted, in America he assimilates, casting off his Old World Jewish garb and renaming himself Sam. With his friend Mac, he runs a small department store and speculates in real estate. He provides the steamship tickets for the family's immigration, but his material success as an American brings no joy to his father.
Miriam, the daughter. Lovely and self-willed, she indulges her strong sexual urgings with soldiers of the nearby garrison. She resents her father's traditional ways and longs for the freedom of America. There she works in her brother's store and keeps company with Mac, but she is overcome by psychosis and is confined in an asylum.
Menuchim (meh-NEW-kihm), the youngest son. When, after the war, he finds his father in New York, he is in his early thirties, is married with two children, and is a famous musician in Europe. As a rabbi in Russia had foretold, the once severely retarded boy has grown wise, good, and strong. At the end of the novel, he awakens hope in Mendel for Miriam's recovery and for a reunion with Jonas, who was reported to be alive.
Sameshkin (sah-MAYSH-kihn), a Russian carter in the Singers' village of Zuchnow. He drinks and behaves coarsely but is good-natured. Driving Mendel home from the emigration authorities in Dubno, he comforts the sorrowful Jew.
Kapturak (kahp-TOO-rahk), a hardened, solitary man of indeterminate age. He earns his living by writing letters, appeals, and postal checks for illiterate peasants and Jews and by smuggling conscripts and deserters, Shemariah among them, out of Russia.
Mac, Shemariah's business partner in New York and his messenger to the family in Zuchnow. He is large, good-humored, and loud, radiating American exuberance.