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
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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
Bernard Marx’s dislike for the oppressive World State is solely superficial. His outrage stems from his own personal sense of injustice- although he is an Alpha, he is an outsider. Emotionally, Bernard is an enigma to others. Physically, Bernard is thin and small; a complete juxtaposition to the other Alphas. These physical and emotional defects are the root of his feelings of separation to society, and his value of individualism and non-conformity. This point is exemplified on page 56, which explains ‘The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects. Which in turn increased his sense of being alien and
• Writes about James, brother of Jesus, who was called the Christ. Stoned to death in A.D. 62. Pg.78
The bourgeoisies made sure that the only way of survival for the working class was through them. Marx even believed that the churches were oppressing the proletarians because the bourgeoisies were controlling the churches. Therefore, Marx thought that religion should be abolished. Another thing that Marx believed had no existence was the government because the bourgeoisie held all political power.3
Beilharz, Peter. 1992a. "Marx", in Social Theory: A Guide to Central Thinkers. Peter Beilharz (ed.). St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.
Though Marx and Kuyper agreed on the need to change the inequality between the different classes, their views regarding religion differed. Marx thought
Marx is not the only one to see the down sides of conformity, his friend Helmholtz Watson, a big name emotional engineer and feely (a feely is basically a movie with more than just video and audio, the tactual element is thrown in so one can feel what is going on) writer, also sees something wrong with, conformity. He feels that he can write better things, things outside the norms of society, which would have more meaning.
Marx advocated social reform for the proletariat (workers).The focus of Marx’s conflict theory is that by eliminating privilege, the overall welfare of the society can be increased. This would then create a true equality
While Groucho Marx does have a number of potent and valid arguments, some poorly planned passages slightly diminish the overall effectiveness of his letter. A recurring issue, Marx’s tendency for rambling distracts the reader from his main goal. His references to Burbank Studio, “Old Man Burbank,” and Harry Appelbaum seem to have no pertinence to the intended subject. However, these are not major issues and can be ignored in order to find Marx’s true purpose.
Everyday their main goal was to figure out how they were going to get through that day, how they were going to keep their family alive until tomorrow. The decision, although not appealing was quite simple, another day of working under the bourgeoisie. For if they did not do this than they simply did not survive. A proletariat agreed to accomplish what was asked of him or her; there was no other way around it. Thus, a necessity to speak up and work for changes was found in the people after going through enough unfair treatment and disrespect that no human being deserves. “Marx preached the fiery rhetoric of class warfare, explaining to the mesmerized workers that revolution was not only the sole answers to their difficulties but was indeed inevitable.” [iii]
Bernard Marx is an upper class Alpha who constantly struggles being different from the rest of the Alphas, and, in the beginning, tries to find a way to become more popular. By the end of the novel, Marx has come to terms with the society which he had first seemed to dislike. Marx meets a woman called Lenina Crowne, and they both travel to a savage reservation. There, Marx and Lenina meet John the savage and his mother Linda. Linda is originally from the civilized world and became pregnant which, in that society, is illegal and was sent to Reservation herself. Once brought back to the New World, John soon found the differences between the two worlds to great. All his values and morals clashed with those of the new society. It turns out, John was the only sane person left. He didn't understand how the citizens lived the way they did, with no morals or values. There, he struggled for his right to think freely. To be happy, to be sad, to be mad, to
able to pick out what is true about the religion and what is false. Marx points out more
Following the Industrial Revolution in 19th century Europe, change was in full swing and religion began to have different meanings for different people. The upper-class citizens used Religion, namely Christianity, and the power that it possessed in an attempt to keep their high status in society, while the lower class turned to faith so that their lives could possibly improve. Instead of religion being the cornerstone of faith and worship amongst all people, it was being used for power and money by the upper class. Even worse, religious leaders were using the upper class people as well, gaining money and authority from their endorsement. A man by the name of Karl Marx saw
Marx is seen struggling with his identity in “Defender of the Faith”, for he has allowed himself to be identified by his duty, but Grossbart helped Marx rediscover a part of him that he lost during the war. By no means was Grossbart intending to help Marx, Grossbart was only interested in his own self gain, but this didn’t stop Marx to let his Jewishness out. Grossbart invited Marx to mass one evening and while Grossbart wasn’t paying
Faith and reason were two modes of belief that dominated the history of Western Civilization. Both faith and reason were popularized as tools to understand the universe in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian eras. By conflicting with each other, these two modes of belief sparked a lot of controversy. Reason or rationality is belief based on concrete evidence and logic. The development of one’s reason relies heavily on observation and questioning. Greco-Roman philosophers believed in the power of the human mind to understand the world. So in order to find ultimate truth, Greco-Roman philosophers dedicated their lives to perfecting their reasoning skills and encouraged those around them to do the same. Contradictory to reason, faith is the