Gimpel the Fool

Main conflict is the main clash or struggle between two opposing forces in the story. There are two types of conflict. First is the internal conflict through which there is a struggle between two opposing values, emotions and choices. Another type of conflict is the external conflict where there is a clash between the protagonist and the antagonist. In “Gimpel The Fool”, written by Isaac Singer, the main conflict is an external conflict. There is a clash between Gimpel and the society. He has the reputation of being a fool.. In Singer’s story, he shows that the society can be deceiving and abusive to people for their own contentment. The story deals with Gimpel’s struggle towards the people in the society. Gimpel was being fooled by the people in his community where he lives in. They took advantage of his weakness, and he allowed them to do it, although he was aware that the people were treating him like a fool. In the beginning of the story, he says,”I don’t think myself as a fool. But that’s what folks call me”(p 1142). He has been labeled as a fool because he did not have enough courage to confront the people. He had fear that he might accuse someone of lying. In addition, he did not want to hurt other people’s feelings. He did not want to offend people, so he decided to act as if he believed everything that they told him. He says, “I believed them, and I hope at least that did them some good”(p 1142). His life was full of lies that people told him. A good example is when the people claimed that his parents were standing at their graves and looking for him. Although Gimpel did not believe on their lie, he put on his wool vest and went to see for himself. People in the society worked as a group in order to ridicule the main character. They made the worse scheme when they talked to Gimpel about marrying the town’s whore, Elka. During their wedding day, a man brought a crib. He was not conscious about the fact that his new wife was pregnant with a child