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Essay about The Defender of the Faith

Decent Essays

The Defender of the Faith

In Philip Roth’s, “Defender of the Faith”, Sergeant Nathan Marx is the “Defender” of whom the title speaks. Reluctant at first, Marx defended his faith on two fronts, one across the sea in Europe and the second in the United States. The battle in the states was of a different type. Marx learned what it was like to defend his and the faith of his fellow Jews against prejudice and abuse by those who waged the war. Marx is not an orthodox Jew. He does not follow the doctrine as most of those in his religion would and did not realize until asked by Grossbart that he was still religious. Though Grossbart showed him he was not like others, Grossbart was not the central antagonism, The war was.

It was not that …show more content…

Marx was concerned that Grossbart was right and that those who wanted to attend the service should have the chance to attend.

Marx confronted Captain Barrett on the matter, who only confirmed Grossbart’s case by showing he was prejudice. Captain Barrett told Marx he’d “fight side by side with a nigger if the fella proved to me he was a man.”(p.119) Marx was not pleased with the captain’s outlook, and even less pleased when the captain told him he should “leave that stuff to the Chaplain.”(p.119) Marx took it upon himself that the soldiers who wanted to attend church should be allowed and ordered his C.Q. to announce “Jewish personnel who want to attend services this evening are to fall out in front of the orderly room,”(p.120) and then added “By order of Captain Barrett.” Marx had won that battle.

Marx, after a few exploits of Grossbart, such as getting a weekend pass to attend a religious dinner a month late and then not attending that dinner, understood that he was being played the fool. Grossbart did not want special privileges for his fellow Jewish soldiers, yet only wanted a free ride in the army. This came to Marx when Grossbart asked if Marx could “do something” about Grossbart’s being shipped off to war in the pacific. Grossbart was

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