Comparison Between Ozzie Freeman's Conversion Of The Jews 'And'

990 Words2 Pages

This short story gives the opinions and beliefs of Ozzie Freeman, a thirteen year old Jewish boy who questions the rationality of the Jewish religion. Rabbi Binder, his teacher, is persistent to overthrow Ozzie and put an end to his profane questions. Eventually this leads to Ozzie's escape up to the roof of synagogue. In turn, Ozzie achieves religious freedom by making the Jews convert to Christianity. In the Conversion of the Jews, it is my belief that Roth's character Ozzie reenacts the dark hours of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and by doing so I believe Roth is stressing the importance of religious tolerance. In particular, Roth portrays Ozzie as a very inquisitive boy who has a mind of his own and does not have a problem going against the grain to seek truth. However, Ozzie’s persistent questions about the validity of Judaism, particularly his question regarding “Why God can’t let a woman have a baby without having …show more content…

Shortly after, it states that the crowd below Ozzie was “In the shape of a star were his friends who stood around Rabbi Binder.” The star reference is symbolic of the Jewish Star of David. It also states that when Itzie tells Ozzie to jump “he broke off his point of the star and with the courage of a disciple, stood alone.” At this point I believe Roth is expressing and acknowledging the Christian faith by showing us how Jesus gathered his disciples’ one by one as they departed from the Jewish faith into

Show More
Related

  • The Rabbi In The Attic Analysis

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story, The Rabbi in the Attic, written by Eileen Pollack (Curtis, 1998), enlightens the reader to the difficulties experienced by religious congregations as a whole, in a very regimented and legalistic form or religion. Pollack’s story also alluded to the fact of how ordered types of religions can lead to conflicting views and ideals from within the congregation over the same God (Schultz, 2015). The theme of The Rabbi in the Attic is undeniably about the harmful effects on congregations that adhere to ritual, tradition, stringent religious law and the emotional upheaval that follows dogma (Schultz, 2015). The Biblical allusion in The Rabbi in the Attic was highlighted by the characters and mimicked the adversity experienced by Jesus Christ with the Scribes and Pharisees in the New Testament gospels. Rabbi Heckler could be considered representative of the high priest Caiaphas (Pollack, 1998, p. 237) in enforcing the law, and the congregation, as those being oppressed by the law and wandering in darkness (Pollack, 1998, p. 240). After Rabbi Heckler’s ouster enters orthodox Rabbi Marion Bloomgareten, who represented the essence of reform similar to Jesus Christ (Pollack, 1998, p. 255). Like Christ, Rabbi Bloomgarten

    Read More

  • The Color of Water by James McBride

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, the dual narratives of the text here present a unique mixture of chronology and perspective. Moreover, noteworthy is also McBride’s usage of the rhetorical strategy of alternate chapters and parallelism. This can be seen when McBride remarkably places related chapters together to juxtapose the life of his mother and that of himself. This allows one to observe the parallelism in the two lives; and perhaps more importantly, understand the significance Ruth’s life has had on McBride. For example, McBride places the chapters “Shul” and “School” next to each other. Here, both Ruth and James are struggling and are trying to fit in but are rejected due to racial and social conflicts. Another example is, “The New Testament” and “The Old Testament.” Both of these chapters revolve around the embarrassment Ruth and James feel for their circumstances. In “The Ne...

    Read More

  • History and Function of the Bar Mitzvah

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... an important event in any Jewish child’s life, and which, also, makes it interesting for us.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Langston Hughes And How I Got Smart

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the other hand we have a story that is also humorous; however, his literary devices achieve a more childlike tone and his story concludes with a sympathetic effect on the reader . In “Salvation”, by Langston Hughes he takes us back to his inner thirteen year old self and his experience with being “saved” in a church. He explains the internal struggle he faces when he is pressured by a whole congregation to “see jesus” and the ironic effect it has on his perspective towards Jesus.

    Read More

  • Struggles of Cultural Identity: An Analysis of Philip Roth's 'Portnoy's Complaint'

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    Philip Roth is the most prominent American novelist in American literature. His book, “Portney’s compliant” is one of the most important literatures for the ethnic group in the world especially for the Jews in America. According to Prof. Sasha Senderovich “Philip Roth’s book is the bible for the Jewish people.” (Lecture). Through the practice with cultural tradition and try to assimilate with the gentile world, Roth reveals his gloom with complain to his psychiatric, Dr. Spielvogel to free from orthodox Jewish tradition in the American society. Inversely, through goy’s behavior, lifestyle, food, and their anti-Semitic psycho, dragged up him back to his tradition. Therein, the juxtaposition between two cultures fabricates him with an enormous confusion and he felt rootless about his identity and end up with his complaint to the doctor. However, the experience of Alex life, established a statement that, “being minority in a society, for the first or second generation,

    Read More

  • Louis Brandeis and Jewish Political Identity

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brandeis’s depiction of Jewish qualities is, more than anything, a call to understand Jewish identity. As a proponent of Zionism, Brandeis recognized the importance of unity, and tried to bring Jews together in identifying their characteristics: “…qualities with which every one of us is familiar…” (Glatzer 707). In the United States, a country whose Jewish population was composed of Jews from other nations around the globe, a sense of strong identity was of singular importance. These treasured qualities of mind, body and character “…may properly be called Jewish qualities.” (Glatzer 707). Brandeis redefines the meaning of “Jew” for those who had lost themselves in immigration and overwhelming anti-Semitism.

    Read More

  • Eliezer Wiesel and His Father in The Holocaust

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eliezer’s horrible experiences at Auschwitz left him caught up in his sorrows and anger toward God. His loss of faith in God arises at Auschwitz. He doubts arise when he first sees the furnace pits in which the Nazis are burning babies. This horrifying experience ...

    Read More

  • Suicide In Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    Immediately at the start of the novel Asher is asking the reader to come to terms with how the choices humans make, in a constantly connected society,

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    The perception of religion is different for everyone and for the grandmother in the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, being a lady with good Christian values was how she defined herself. The grandmother’s innocence of the evil existing in the world cost her and her family their lives. The story “Cathedral” however, has a more positive outlook on faith. The narrator, “Bub”guided by a blind man named Robert was able to visualize and draw a picture of a cathedral, without really knowing what one was. This essay will examine how the outcomes of both stories were affected by the beliefs of those involved.

    Read More

  • Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many Americans have watered down the Depiction of Jewish oppression during Nazi reign to swift easy round up into concentration camps. What Quentin Tarantino and the Jewish film community wanted to illustrate through this film is how this is an incorrect overgeneralization. Inglourious Basterds illustrates more realistic Jewish life during Nazi reign and the constant terror they faced. This oppression was far more personal, intimate, and cordial yet brutal altercations invoked through self-defense and hatred. This film illustrates this internal oppression and revolt through schemes, interrogations, threats, and abrupt violence.

    Read More

  • The Holocaust: An Analysis Of Yeshivas For Their Children

    195 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the beginning of the book, the narrator tells about the environment he has been placed in all his life. Apparently he lives in a populated Jewish community in New York, which, is made up by different districts that practice various types of slightly different lifestyles. According to his description, the Russian Hasidic sect, Polish Hasidic sect, the Orthodox sect and etc. all consist minor conflicts on their beliefs among each other. But despite the internal collision within the community, the Jews still appeared to be separated from what they called the “gentiles” both by appearance and inherence. They wear traditional Jewish clothing, skullcaps; they all go to synagogues and establish yeshivas for their children to learn about their traditions,

    Read More

  • A Serious Man Larry Gopnick

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    To consider yourself Jewish you believe in a higher power, God and that God is known to plan out your whole life and that he would have the best interest at heart for you. This is when you start to see Larry start to question his faith with his religion. Because if God had his best interest in you, Larry wondered why would these things keep happening to him. The questions that we see arise from Larry is “Is there a God?” “If there is a God then why do bad things happen to me and to other people in this world?” “Whats going on?” For example, since Larry and his ex Wife believe in the religion of Judaism and the way that his wife is acting or now his ex wife, is like an imposter. In the Religion of Judaism being with another man while being married is considered “adultery”, yet saying she is doing it “In faith” is where the hypocrisy comes into place. After Larry understands and wraps his mind around what is happening to his life and to the people in it, he seeks Rabbis. A Rabbi is “A Jewish scholar or teacher, especially one who studies or teaches Jewish law.” (dictionary) Larry visits three different Rabbis. One Rabbi was named Rabbi Scott who was a junior Rabbi. This Rabbi was illustrated as a vey uncensored Rabbi. He had little to no experience with the topic that Larry needed advice with. Another Rabbi that he seeked was a Rabbi named Rabbi Natcher. This Rabbi had a little bit

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Tale Of Malcolm X And James Baldwin

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    The phrase ‘Coming of Age’ refers to the process of growing up or entering into adulthood. In these three coming of age tales of Barack Obama, Malcolm X and James Baldwin they all share a component in their lives with each other as they tell their tales of their dark pasts. Baldwin’s story is about how he becomes aware of himself and who he is as a person. Baldwin also shares a component with Obama because they both suffered from psychological loss of innocence of the protagonist between the ages of 10 to 20. The components Malcolm X has are both acquiring knowledge and he was accepting of the complexities and ‘greyness’ of the world.

    Read More

  • What Is Ozzie's Role In The Conversion Of The Jews

    141 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Philip Roth’s “The Conversion of the Jews”, the main character’s, Ozzie’s, inner conflict with spirituality does not interfere with his strong admiration regarding his culture, as seen when Ozzie’s eyes became “glassy” when he watched his mother light the Sabbath candles, a moment he found hallowed. Throughout the story, it becomes clear that a perplexing spirituality is developing, which Ozzie is looking to understand; as shown when he thought rushing through the readings would result in lack of understanding in something that needs to be understood properly.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Philip Roth's Book 'Conversion Of The Jews'

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his short story, “Conversion of the Jews,” Philip Roth illustrates a conflict between faith and reason through a young boy’s endeavors to find the truth. A thirteen-year old Jewish boy, Ozzie, habitually questions Rabbi Binder, since Ozzie’s logical reasoning frequently disagrees with Rabbi Binder’s religious faith. Consequently, Ozzie often finds himself in trouble. One day, he claims that Rabbi Binder “[doesn’t] know anything about God” and runs to the roof, refusing Rabbi Binder and the firemen’s orders to come down. Instead, before jumping down onto the firemen’s yellow net, Ozzie forces the Rabbi, the custodian, his mother, and his classmates to say that they believe in Jesus. Through Ozzie’s refusal

    Read More

More about Comparison Between Ozzie Freeman's Conversion Of The Jews 'And'

Open Document