Herzog In Elie Wiesel's Napoleon Street

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Herzog frequently reminisces about his mother. In the Jewish tradition the mother is the centre of the family. Sarah, his mother, did not work, but she offered her constant support and loving care to her four children and ill-fated husband. In the Napoleon Street passages, Herzog first remembers her urging Father Herzog to help the drunk Ravitch, a boarder in their apartment, lest he awaken the neighbours. In addition to possessing that natural sincerity and concern for others, she is a character of ultimate kind-heartedness and sacrifice bordering on self-denial, which is rendered in the accounts of her dedication to and protection of her children and husband. Herzog marvels at her amazing strength and her spoiling of her children, including him. On one wintry January evening, while pulling the young …show more content…

Herzog, who once received love and guardianship from his mother, is permanently “in need of protection” (307). This particularly important role of the mother, who died prematurely, is eventually taken over by Ramona. The good-hearted florist offers Herzog her time, attention, care and a much-needed boost to his self-confidence. Bellow’s portrait of Herzog at this point in the novel is largely comical and Herzog mocks his selfish behaviour. He realizes that courting Ramona for the sake of sexual pleasure does not resolve his predicament. He expresses this self-criticism through such ironic comments as this one: “I get laid, I take a short holiday, but very soon after I fall upon those same thorns with gratification in pain, or suffering in joy – who knows what the mixture is!” (207) while the narrator plainly states: “When he jeered in private at the Dionysiac revival it was himself he made fun of. Herzog! A prince of the erotic Renaissance, in his macho garments”

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