The Fixer Essay, Research Paper
In the novel, The Fixer, the author, Bernard Malamud,
presents to us a poor Jewish handyman living in Russia
during the early 1900’s, before the Russian
revolution had begun. Destroyed by his wife’s
disavowal, Yakov Shepsovitch Bok leaves his shtetl in
search of opportunities for a better life. After a
few months of desperate searching, Yakov sneaks out of
the ghetto to look for work among the goyim. As he
searches the streets, he stumbles upon a man who lay
drunk on the floor. Yakov immediately recognizes a pin
on the man’s coat as belonging to the anti-Semite
organization called the Black Hundreds. Putting his
doubts behind him, Yakov decides to help the fat
Russian. Not aware of Yakov’s origins, the Russian
offers him a job as a reward. The job, however,
requires him to live in a district prohibited to Jews.
Out of desperation, Yakov agrees. Only a few months
later, honest, hard-working Yakov, is caught.
Authorities had found out he is a Jew. Less than a
week before that, however, an awful murder had been
committed and they accuse Yakov of being the murderer,
when in fact the true killer is the young boy’s own
mother. Yakov is charged with murder for religious
purposes. They believe the Jewish community needed
the blood to bake into the matzos for Passover as a
symbol of the remembrance of the crucifixion of
Christ.
Yakov Bok is Jewish man in his early thirties. He
describes himself as “ a fixer by trade, it’s a poorer
trade than most, and formerly for a short time I was a
soldier in the Imperial Army. In fact, to tell you
the truth, I’m not a religious man, I’m a
freethinker.” He believes he has had such bad luck,
that it is useless to pray to G’d, and therefore he is
more of an atheist, or a freethinker, than he is a
Jew. He states he is a Jew only “by birth and
nationality,” though nobody understands what is meant
by that. To the Russians he is legally a mere Jew. At
one point Yakov says to himself “I’m Yakov Fixer…
the kind of man who finds it perilous to be alive.
One thing I must learn is to say less-much less, or
I’ll ruin myself. As it is I’m already ruined.”
During his first few months in prison, Yakov does not
seem to get accustomed to the hardships. As time
passes him by, however, he grows used to life in a
prison cell, but it only gets worst. As the novel
unfolds, Yakov becomes extremely weak and thin and he
looses the trifling faith that was still left in him.
Throughout the novel, the main idea is very obvious.
It is Yakov falsely accused of the murder of a young
boy in order to drain his blood for the baking of the
Passover matzos. The theme of anti-Semitism in
Russia during the time of pogroms and of Tsar Nicholas
the second is a universal theme presented to us as the
book unravels. It is evident that if Yakov had not
been born of the Jewish faith, he would not have been
charged with the murder of Zhenia Golov. He was
being used only as an example to the three million
Jewish residents of Russia. He was being used as a
warning.
The meaning of the title The Fixer, chosen by
Malamud, has a very literal meaning, however it
symbolizes a much more profound thought. Literally,
the title only refers to the main character of the
novel, who makes a living as a fixer, or handyman. It
is a very simple title of a book about a very simple
man who has been falsely accused of a very complicated
murder. He was only “Yakov the fixer from a small
town in Pale, an orphan boy who had married Raisl
Shmuel and had been deserted by her.” Not a liar and
a murderer of young children. He made the “stupid
deception” of lying that his name was Yakov Ivanovitch
Dologushev, instead of Yakov Shepsovitch Bok . This
minute lie led him to land a job which in turn forced
him to live in the Luskianovsky district which was
prohibited to Jews. He unsuccessfully tries to
convince the Prosecuting Attorney of his innocence
regarding the murder “I swear to you, I am innocent of
any serious crime. The worst I am guilty of is
stupidity-of living in the Luskianovsky without
permission… but certainly, not of any serious
crimes.” And for a small uncomplicated lie he is
charged with a huge, very complicated murder, thus
proving to us how the title has a more profound
meaning than is literally intended. The title is also
very ironic. The man is a fixer, and yet he is not be
able to fix anything regarding his unlucky life.
The book The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud, is a powerful
novel describing the anti-Semitism felt throughout
Russia during the pre-revolution era. It is a
historical novel which teaches us what it was like to
be a Jew living in Russia. It is important not only
to better understand Russian history but to try to
better understand anti-Semitism, which led to the
killing of many innocent lives. It is the
anti-Semitism that caused World War two and the death
of six million Jews. Anti-Semitism was also a major
cause of the Zionist movement which resulted in the