Profile of Joseph Essay

Joseph can be described as being nice. One example is when the committee had appointed him to write a statement on the rights of man, to which they would all put their names, and which would be posted to Boston. In Adam’s opinion, “Joseph was a nice enough man, but when it came to the fine points of disputation, he simply wasn’t there.” (20) This shows that even though Joseph was a poor choice to speak in front of the committee, he was nice enough to do it. Another example is when everyone was making a plan to prevent the war; Cousin Simmons came and comforted Adam. “Cousin Simmons came to me and put an arm around my shoulder. ‘It’s a long night, Adam. ‘he smiled.” (89) From both these examples, it is clear that Joseph is always a nice person.

Proceeded to beat David. This shows that Joseph will even harm his own family out of hatred for anything and everything that is deviational, and this is where Joseph’s evil is most apparent in the book.

From what we are told, we can obviously tell that Joseph has a very difficult life as it is, “What can a crippled, speechless boy do, asked Joseph…” Nolan is telling us that Joseph thinks of himself in a negative manner. But while he may look in himself in a negative way, he is still optimistic, explaining

Joseph learns from his father, Elias’ faults in both his community leadership and personal life. Joseph is a more powerful leader as well as a family member because of this. At the beginning of the novel, Elias is introduced as the former leader of Waknuk the community they live in. He teaches and inspires Joseph to lead the community, but he is also a good example for Joseph to learn how to alter his leadership styles to be more effective. At the beginning of the novel, there is a jump back in time to explain Joseph's childhood:

“Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him” (Genesis 37: 3-4).

Joseph began his life as the favorite son of Jacob who tended to the flocks as a shepherd.3 These humble beginnings foreshadow how one day Joseph will tend to the Seed of the Woman during times of famine in the land by giving food to this eleven brothers. Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, had eleven other sons who were jealous of the special attention that Joseph received. In fact, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.4 Joseph had a dream that predicted that Joseph would one day reign over his older brothers. This upset his brothers and they tricked Joseph by selling him into slavery. Joseph was then taken to Egypt where he was sold to Potiphar and became a servant in

So when Joseph came to them, they took off his beautiful robe and they threw him in an empty well. Then they sold him to people that were going to Egypt. The brothers took the robe and dipped it in animal’s blood and brought it to their father. They told Jacob that an animal killed him. Jacob was really upset. Joseph was now in Egypt working as a slave. He was Potiphar’s helper and made him mandated of everything he owned. Then the Pharaoh sent him to jail. After some time in jail a cupbearer and a baker’s Pharaoh had a dream that he was going to get out of jail soon. Joseph told them to tell the Pharaoh about him but the cupbearer forgot. Two years later the Pharaoh had a dream, but nobody could understand it. Then the cupbearer remembered what Joseph did for him, and Joseph was brought to Pharaoh. Joseph explained him and the Pharaoh believed all that he told him, and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. People came from all over to buy grain from Joseph, including Joseph's brothers. When his brothers came, Joseph was able to recognize them, but they did not. Joseph told them that he was their brother and even thought they were afraid Joseph was not mad at them because he knew that God had a better plan for him. After it his entire family moved to Egypt

Joseph also assumes that if you are not a true image of man then you are considered a deviation. He suspects that if you are a deviation then you are sent by the devil. Additionally, if you are a deviation then you don't deserve to live. Altogether, Joseph is seen to be a man who is viciously devoted to his religion.

     Living in Waknuk makes it extremely easy to be controlled by your religion. Joseph was a very religious man towards his family

Joseph was often sent out to spy on his brother for their father. He often tattled to his father about their wrongdoings. Joseph had dreams that he shared with his brothers that made them not like him even more. In his dreams, he had power over his entire family. This caused Joseph’s older brothers to hate him so much that they plotted to kill him. Instead of killing him; they beat him and sold him

of his capabilities. Similarly, Joseph is able to establish himself as a superior to his

Comparisons can me made by accounting the part where Joseph’s master’s wife tries to seduce him too; in the Hebrew bible, Joseph is accused falsely and sent off to prison whereas in the Koran, the master acknowledges that his wife is the cunning one, “This is but one of your tricks. Your cunning is great indeed! Joseph, say no more about this. Woman, ask pardon for your sin. You have done wrong.” (p1448). The consequent imprisonment of Joseph is slightly different in both the stories too.

Joseph was the first born child of Rachel and because he was born to Jacob in his old age, Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons and made Joseph a richly ornamented robe, therefore Joseph’s brothers hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph also had dreams that indicated that he would reign over his brothers and this caused more hatred toward him. His brothers were jealous of the love that he received from their father and because of his dreams. Consequently, Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him but instead they sold him to some Ishmaelites that were passing through to Egypt.

It is important to know that “In antiquity, dreams were thought to be signs from divine powers exposing their intent” (Plaut, 388). This view toward dreams makes Joseph’s gift very valuable. Throughout the writing we see that “Dreams play an important role and hint at unusual developments” within the story (Plaut, 360). The dreams come in three different episodes, each episode contains two dreams. This is one form of repetition that is used with regard to the dreams (cfr. Humphreys, 97). The first set of dreams occurs at the beginning of the narrative. Joseph has a dream and he goes to share it with his brothers: “There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf” (Gen. 37:7). The brothers are extremely disgusted with Joseph and they see his dream as a purposeful attempt to mock them and show his power over them (cfr. Levenson, 75). They already do not like him because he is the favorite son, but they hate him even more after his dream. The second dream which occurs within this episode is similar to the first. This time Joseph describes the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him. Joseph’s brothers and father take exception to his dream.

One of the inherent conflicts in the story of Joseph is the tension between Joseph and his brothers. The tension between them is caused by both Jacob and Joseph. First, Jacob shows favoritism toward Joseph, because he is the son of his favorite wife Rachel. Second, Joseph brings back bad reports when he is out pasturing with his brothers. However, what truly increased the hatred and jealousy was the Joseph’s dreams. The author notes that when Joseph recounts the dreams, “they hated him even more (Gen. 37:8).” Their jealousy for Joseph is strong enough that they are willing to murder him. However, they decide to instead sell him into slavery, and convince Jacob that he was killed.