GIMPEL, NAIVE AND KIND

2 Pages 568 Words

Gimpel, Kind and Naive
“I don’t think of myself a fool. On the contrary. But that’s what folks call me.” Gimpel, the main character in “Gimpel the Fool” written by Isaac Bashevis Singer, narrates the story with precise honesty. Gimpel portrays a foolish man whom throughout his life, those who surround him, ridicule and deceive him. Information obtained by what he says and does, also by what others say about him, determine Gimpel’s character and personality. Gimpel is a static character of a story about a man wiser and kinder than those who deceive and mock him.
The seven names given to Gimpel as a child by his classmates include: “Imbecile, donkey, flax-head, dope, glump, ninny, and fool.” In truth Gimpel contrary to fool, portrays just naivety and goodness. Gimpel’s goodness shows when his classmates, “Stuffed [his] hands with goat turds” instead “of the raisins they give when a woman’s lying in,” and he does nothing. Gimpel knows this whole time about the strength he has to slap someone “he’d see Cracow.” Instead he honors his philosophy by stating, “Let it pass.” The people of Frampol, the only town Gimpel’s ever known, ridicules and mocks him throughout his adolescence. Gimpel chooses to let everything go without a word being said so that situations do not worsen with comments such as, “If I ever dared to say ‘Ah, you’re kidding!’ there was trouble. People got angry.”
A deceived Gimpel marries Elka, a promiscuous woman who throughout their twenty years of marriage never treats him as a human being. Elka cheats on Gimpel with several men. She gives birth to six children, none of which Gimpel fathered. Nevertheless, Gimpel loves the children with love a biological father can only give. Gimpel knows the truth the whole time, but he still loves Elka blindly. Gimpel’s character of a kind man who strongly believes in God and his guidance shows when he seeks the Rabbi for...