Comparing The Assistant And The Fixer

The Assistant and The Fixer When reading The Assistant and The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud, a person notices some immediate similarities. Both novels are very similar because of the characters and common themes in both novels. Even though the books are not meant to be related, Malamud does a great job drawing a parallel between two difference stories with two completely different plot lines. In The Assistant and The Fixer the characters Frank and Yakov Bok, Morris and Shmuel, Frank, Helen, and Yakov Bok, and Morris and Yakov Bok are very similar. Also, throughout the two novels the themes of Jewish verses non-Jewish and lies and deceit appear quite often. In The Assistant and The Fixer, two of the main characters, Frank and Yakov Bok are very similar. In The Assistant, Frank is a thief, turned grocery assistant on a mission to help a family whom was a victim of his past crime. In The Fixer, Yakov Bok is a Jewish man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. “The authorities come to the brickyard and arrest Yakov. He knows that he has done something that is considered to be illegal, by living in a restricted area off-limits to Jews. But, he is at first, unaware of the actual accusations of ritual murder against him” (Johnson). One may think that these characters sound fairly opposite. Frank
One of the biggest themes is religion, and more specifically the Jewish people verse non-Jewish people. In both stories it is emphasized that the author thinks the Jews struggle more because of their heritage and their faith. In The Fixer and The Assistant, the Jewish characters are constantly struggling at the hands of the non-Jewish. In the Assistant, the Bober’s are often criticized for their faith, and are victims of robbery by non-Jewish men. In the beginning, Frank persecutes the Bober’s for being Jewish, but in the end converts to