Human egoism of victims : Jews and Blacks in Bernard Malamud's The tenants
著者（英） Reiko Aoyama
journal or
publication title
Core
number 16
page range 1‑19
year 1987‑03‑20
URL http://doi.org/10.14988/pa.2017.0000016424
Human Egoism o f Victims:
J ews and Blacks
i n Bernard Malamud
ラs The Ten ω z t s
R e i k o Aoyama
Bernard Malamud's The Tenants1 treats universal problems concerning human nature: Can a victim and a persecutor compromise， apologize， and forgive each other to achieve peaceful co‑existence? What aspects of human nature are revealed in the tension between them? The Tenants grapples squarely with the problems of human nature revealed in the confrontation. Malamud dramatizes the confrontation by making the twomain characters of different races. The J ewish protagonist is challenged by and challenges the black antagonist. The purpose of this paper is to explore the human natures manifested in their confrontation. In order to achieve this purpose， the scope of this paper is limited to black‑Jewish conflicts.
The setting of the novel is an old and decrepit apartment house in New Y ork City owned by a middle‑aged J ewish landlord， Irvin Levenspiel. Malamud's Levenspiel seems to五tthe popular stereotyp巴ofa J ew from the social and emotional points of view. With a BBA from City College of New Y ork， he owns apartment houses on Thirty五rstStreet and Third Avenue， and in Harlem， making profit from racial minorities. Yet， like J ob， he carries various burdens‑a crazy mother， a sick wife， an unmarried pregnant
daughter， and he himself is sick. His dream is to demolish the old apartment house and put up a modern building with five floors of big‑room flat over a line of stories" (19). He has moved out all his tenants but Harry Lesser. In order to persuade Lesser to move out， he often cries for mercy " with the consciousness of being a constant victim. 2 He calls himself innocent " and
sensitive" (19).
Harry Lesser， the protagonist， is a single Jewish writer， thirty‑six years old， who has already published two book. In Lεvenspiel's old apartment for nine years and a half he has been struggling with his third book entitled "The Promised End， " but ironically he has di伍culty in五nishing the book Regardless of Levenspiel's pleas， threatsぅandbribes， he insists that he has to 五nishthe book where he began
Willie Spearmint， the antagonist， is a young black who hopes to be a professional writer. He moves into one of Levenspiel's apartments illegally and starts writing. Having read books about and by black during his imprisonment， he has decided to be the best Soul Writer" (63) who fights for black freedom and revolution. He has written an autobiographical novel based on his experience and some violent short stories， all of which claim the superiority of the blacks.
Let us examine how the three characters introduced above are inter‑related Lesserand Levenspiel， in the relation of the Jews， seem to be sympathetic to each other:
He [Lesser] knows the words and music， they've sung it together many times before， begun with assertions of mutual regard. Each proclaims consideration of the other. Lesser promises to get out as soon as he can so the landlord can knock over his building. Levenspiel， a thick‑chested m丘n whos巳 voice lives in his belly，
Human Egoism of Victims:
swears he wants the other to write the best book he can; he respects serious writers. (16)
3
Lesser feels guilty for what he has done to the landlord: since he was screwing Levenspiel by staying on， keeping him from tearing down his building， out of mercy Lesser did not complain" (9). The landlord knows that Lesser feels guilty so that he tries to appeal to Lesser's consciousness of guilt and sympathy. Yet Lesser refuses to sympathize with the landlord， saying to himself So much for mercy" (9). Levenspiel， on the other hand， cannot really feel sympathy with Lesser: What's a make‑believe novel， Lesser， against all my woes and miseries that 1 have explained to you ?" (21) ln spite of their generous and considerate statements to each other， their ideas are self‑centered. Neither the writer nor the landlord concedes to the other ; each protects his own benefit. The imp1ication of the J ewish landlord‑tenant relation here is that ethnic brotherhood is overruled by personal interests
From the beginning to the end of the book， Lesser and Levenspiel confront each other without compromise.
The relation between Willie and Levenspiel exemplifies typical economic and social conflicts between blacks and J ews. J ews and blacks rare¥y encounter each other on an equal status， for in most cases J ews are in more
SOCI0田economicallyadvantageous positions than blacks， such as landlord and tenant; pawnbroker and borrower; merchant and customer; housewife and domestic; teacher and student. J ews are the objects of black hatred ‑the scapegoats at hand.3 For Willie， Levenspiel is a stereotyped Jew slumlord，" an object of black hatred. Watching Levenspielleave the house， Willie abuses him with foullanguage : Fartn Jew slumlord" (41). Lesser reminds him that Lesser himself is J ewish， but Willie only thanks Lesser for
having protectεd him from the landlord， saying All I'm saying is an economic fact" (41). At another occasion he expresses his hatred against the publishers who refuse Willie's manuscripts， shouting naughty names those rat‑brained Jews" (75). Willie ignores the fact that he intrudes into Levenspiel's apartment illegally and that the publishers do not publish his works because his works areliterarily immature. To express anti‑Semitism seems to be a way to gain black freedom. At the bottom of the manuscript of one of his anti‑Semitic stori巴民 Williejots，
It isn't that 1 hate the Jews. But if 1 do any， it's not because 1 invented it myself but 1 was bom in the good old U. S. of A. and there's a lot of that going on that gets under your skin. And it's also from knowing the Jews， which 1 do. The way to black freedom is against them." (220)
These episodes suggest that black hostility against J ews is aroused when Jews exist as economic oppressors or apparent obstacles to black social ambitions.
Perhaps Malamud has borrowed this idea from James Baldwin's comment that: behind the Jewish face stood the American reality." 4 Blacks hate Jews because they have been taught to hate Jews as a cultural inheritance rather than because they have been actually ill‑treated by Jews. Richard Wright explains the causes of his hatred against Jews in his autobiographical novel
，
Black Boy:All of us black people who lived in the neighborhood hated J ews， not because they exploited us， but because we had been taught at home and in Sunday school that J ews were Christ killers. " 5
Blacks have accepted the groundless socio‑religious hatred of J ews， which
Human Egoism of Victims 5 regards a J ew as Judas who betrayed Christ" or as a usurer Shylock. "
Jews are a safe， acceptable， and accessible target for black frustration. Willie
1S a stereotyped" black who is forced by American society to see stereotyp巴d" Jews
The main plot of this novel， the relation between Lesser and Willie， represents more complicated black‑Jewish relations of the sixties. Lesser's liberal white intellectualism contrasts with Levenspiel's role as an old st巴reotyped Jew. Lesser， nrst， offers material help to Willi巴 he offers eraser， penci ，l whatever" (32)， keeps Willie's typewriter for its safety， buys Willie a piece of furniture to write on， hides Willie in his bathroom when the landlord searches for the intruder in the apartment house. When Lesser nrst sees Willie， he almost says that he had a black friend in his childhood in order to show that he is a liberal white. Later Lesser offers some literary advice to Willie at the sacrince of his precious writing time. He thinks he is in a position to give advice to a writer who is inferior and junior to him. This attitude of Lesser corresponds to the Jews' idealistic conndence; the Jews consider themselves more qualified than anyone， less compromised than anyone because of their historical situation certainly， to preach this
[democratic] doctrine." 6
Willie， who shows typical anti‑Semitic .feelings towards Levenspiel， does not show hostility to Lesser for being a Jew， as we have already witnessed. Apart from his aggressive statements against whites， he appreciates and accepts Lesser's material help， and later turns to Lesser for literary advice smce nobody else 1 know has got two novels published" (57).
Lesser and Willie gradually form a sort of friendship based on their senior‑junior relation as writers. Lesser is more concerned with the fact that he is the senior writer than with the fact that Willie is a black. In response to
Willie's joke that he will win the Nobel Prize， Lesser answers: After me， 明Tillie. I've worked since the ice age and tomorrow is another day" (49). Lesser represents the J ews who are liberal in race and color but adhere to the tradition that Jews must be superior to black because of their longer history. Later in the story， Lesser picks up Willie's manuscripts from the garbage and reads them furtively for fear that Willie might write a better book than he. This nasty act parallels the situation in which Jews felt threatened by blacks in those days.
The differences of the situations of the two writers are reflected in the differences of their attitudes towards writing. Willie's writing has a social purpose; Lesser's， an aesthetic one. Willie argues that:
Black ain't white and never can be. It is once and for only black. It ain't universal if that's what you are hintin up to. What 1 feel you feel different. You can't write about black because you don't have the least idea what we are or how we fee .l Our feelin chemistry is different than yours. Dig that ? It has to be so. I'm writin the soul writin of black people cryin out we are still slaves in this fuckn country and we ain't gonna stay slaves any longer. How can you understand it， Lesser， if your brain is white γ， (74‑75)
Black fiction， according to Willie， must be different from fiction written by whites because black experiences and constitutions are different from those of whites. Williεhopes to be a writer of soul and life for the purpose of liberating blacks. The source of his energy to write comes from his experiences and brotherly love for blacks.
As Willie came to a broader understanding of his people's history and the injustice of their suffering， he felt for them a deep， sweet， overpow巳ringlove. For the whites he kept his hatred. Maybe not
Human Egoism of Victims:
in his mind every minuue of the day but he kept it in principle When he was sprung out of prison， he left with五vefolders full of writing he had pledged to the cause of Black Freedom. (64)
Therefore he feels that:
The more 1 write on the terrible and violent things of my life， the more 1 feel easier on mysel f. The only thing 1 am afraid of， I don't want to get too soft in my nature." (63)
7
Lesser， by contrast， places much importance on form and art in fiction :If we're talking about art， form demands its rights， or there's no order and maybe no meaning" (75)
Malamud may be criticized for comparing an already successful Jewish writer with an apprentice black writer in discussing the black‑Jewish issue. The story might be more interesting if Malamud used a Black intellectual "
like Ralph Ellison instead of Black恥1ilitant."7
Malamud did not make Willie. He borrowed him ‑he mimicked him‑from the literature and the politics of the black movement.
Willie is the black dream that is current in our world. Blacks made him.8
Willie represents the Black Power writers in the late sixties who regarded literature as a means of propaganda for achieving black fr明 dom. In The Tenants， the differences in historical backgrounds of blacks and J ews appear in the differences of the literary careers and attitudes of Willie and Lesser. Willie thinks that he must emphasize his uniqueness as a black to be a successful writer， since he does not have literary traditions or history to depend on. Lesser， on the contrary， clings to art and form as a literary
8
standard gradually formed through a long history. Leslie Friedler summa‑
rizes the differences of historical background of J ews and blacks:
• ， the Jew comes to America with a history， the memory of a world he cannot afford to and does not want to d巴ny. But the Negro arrives without a past， out of nowhere‑that is to say， out of a world he is afraid to remember，. . .9
Wi1lie is a novice who has to fight in order to be accepted in American society ; Lesser is an accepted member of American society who has a cultural heritage.
This examination of the three characters and their relations leads to the conclusion that the way Lesser， Willie， and Levenspiel are presented is an accurate representations of black‑J ewish relationships in the United States at that time. The relation between Levenspiel and Wi11ie represents a stereotyped traditional relation between J ews and blacks; the relation between Lesser and Wil1ie exemplifies newly developed black‑Jewish rela‑ tions through the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties. David Mesher has put lt:
The Tenants. . . does offer some excellent examples of how the author utilizes expressive or symbolic nam巴sand readily identifiable stereotypes to advance his characterizations and themes.10
To offer the examples of racial stereotypes， however， is not Malamud's ultimate purpose. What Malamud intends to do in The Tenants is to explore human nature revealed in the confrontation betwe巴nthe two races. In the latter half of this paper， we will discuss what kind of human nature is presented within the context of black‑Jewish confiicts as the story proceeds.
Human Egoism of Victims: 9 The story takes a turn for the worse around a woman.
Malamud's women are minor characters. Irene Bell， a Jewish off Broadway actress， is Willie's girHriend， who tries to provide羽Tilliewith financial and mental support; later Lesser with mental healing. lrene is a
Nurturing Woman "11 who rescues the hero from serious dejection when he accepts her love. Irene does her best to understand， heal， and help Willie， thinking of his past when he was hurt for his blackness. She makes efforts to feel black by using black towels， hanging a picture of black Jesus. Later， she offers Lesser a chance to live a new life‑a way to redeem him from the deadlock in his writing. Neither writer， however， would accept her love because their primary concerns are in writing not in love. Irene gives up both Willie and Lesser， leaving New York for San Francisco. Irene， who was supposed to be the Nurturing W oman " type， fails to redeem the two m巴n. Sandy Cohen's view of Irene is critical : In this trial by love it is the woman who fails the man."12 Her last words that No book is as important as m久 "
(226) reveal that she loves herseH more than anyone else.
Rivalry in love is intensified and aggravated when the persons concerned are of different races. Irene refrains from telling Willie that she and Lesser love each other because she is afraid that it might hurt Willie's blackness
1 know we're not， " Irene went on，but 1 have this awful feeling as though you and 1 are a couple of Charlies giving a nigger a boot in the ass.
1 don't feel that way， " Harry said. All this amounts to is two people‑you and Willie‑finally agreeing to end an affair. If you aren't betraying him as a man you aren't betraying his color. Forget the Charlie bit." (148‑49)
Lesser's idealistic and reasonable statement that the personal affair has
nothing to do with color is denied by Willie.
Once a human being is seized with a sense of being a victim， whether a black or a Jew， one forgets the fact that one has victimized anothor. While he was secretly dating Irene， Lesser had a sense of gui1t:
The writer felt especially bad to be sleeping with his girl‑to be in love with her‑and keeping it from him whose present pain he so well understood. As though Bil!'s travail made him all the more victim; for this reason all the more necessaty to tell him the truth， whereas， logically， considering the trouble he was having with his writing， maybe it was best to keep the news from him until he was in better shape to hear it‑bad news or good. (152‑53)
Out of conscience， Lesser confesses his relation with Irene to Willie. As far as one is in a safe and superior position， he can afford to feel sympathy and gui
I t
with others. But after Willie burned his manuscripts， Lesser could neither feel guilty nor sorry for Willie. He justifies his affair with lrene， saying that she made her free choice. 1 made mine. 1 treated you like any other man" (224). His thought and fee1 i
ng are focussed only on the fact that he was victimized by Willie.The friendship between Lesser and Willie is broken at the moment when Lesser severely criticizes Willie's works and confesses that he has been in love with Irene. Willie calls Lesser filthy ethnic names: Y ou trick me， Jewprick， got me writin so deep you stole my bitch away. . . . What's wrong is 1 forgot to go on hatin you， whiteshit. Now 1 hate you til! your death" (169). This quick development of hatred indicates that， although one does not usually have a prejudice against the other， one could easily raise one's prejudice against the ethnic group to which the other belongs， if one thinks one is victimized by the other. Willie also reproaches Irene that she had
Human Egoism of Victims : 11 hurt his blackness" (171)， and then he keeps writing violent anti‑J ewish stories. These incidents show that the racial question takes an important position in the mind of the oppressed. There lies a serious color question where a personal insult is taken as an insult for the whole race to which one belongs
In order to take revenge on Lesser， during his absence Willie and his black friends burn Lesser's manuscript which is near completion. Lesser， in his turn， destroys Willie's typewriter with an ax. Thus each writer becomes at once the aggressor and the victim of the other. This incident shows that the positions of victim and aggressor are easily and quickly interchanged. John Alexander Allen points out:
He [MalamudJ is always deeply concerned with a struggle between victim and exploiter or persecutor‑a confrontation which gathers power naturally from his strong and enduring sympathy with the oppressed. If one asks of The Tenants whether Lesser or Willie Spearmint has the role ofvictim， the answer must be that each is the other's victim， finally.13
Sheldon Hershinow argues that: Hatred breeds violence until the differ‑ ences between victim and victimizer becomεblurred: they victimize each other. "14 Lesser desperately attempts to rewrite his novel from the beginning from memory， while Willie goes on writing violent anti‑Semitic stones目 Neitherof them can write well
Even if a friendly feeling to Willie as a writer happens to touch him， Lesser reasons that he cannot forgive Wil1ie :
Hey Bill， Lesser thought in the hallway， moved by the sight of a man writing， how's it going?
You couldn't say that aloud to someone who had deliberately destroyed the almost completed manuscript of your most promising novel， product of ten years' labor. Y ou understood his history and possibly yours， but you could say nothing to him. (222)
The anger that he cannot forgive Willie turns into a delusion of persecution which cannot be reasonably explained. Lesser attributes his deadlock in his writing to Willie:
Maybe he listens with evil ear
，
fingers crossed，
to hinder me doing what he can't? He could be witching my nail cuttings or crooked hairs caught in a broken comb he found in the garbage can. He wills 1 crack， fall apart， wither. He listens for， imagines， craves to create， my ultimate irreversible failure・(223)By an effort of will， Lesser tries to forgive Willie:
Instead， suppressing hatred， he makes a breathy effort: 1 forgive you， Willie， for what you did to me. 1 forgive you for forgivin me.
For burning my book一 "
For stealin my bitch 1 love一"(224)
Each forgives what the other has done but never apologizes for what he has done to the other. This short exchange of words shows the ego‑centeredness of human beings: the sense of guilt from hurting another is weak， while the sense of being hurt by another is intense.
Evelyn Gross Avery summarizes some common traits of the protagonists in Malamud's earlier works.15 Malamud's Jewish protagonists， faced with hardship， choose to throw themselves into suffering and to assume responsi句 bilities at the cost of material security and success. By assuming the burdens
Human Egoism of Victims: 13 of others or becoming victims， they attain higher spiritual growth or are reborn." They are often healed and restored by women when they take r巴sponsibilityas father or husband. In The Natur叫~ Roy Hobbs regrets what he has done to Iris Lemon when he is told that she is pregnant by him. In The Assistant， Frank Alpine takes over from his spiritual mentor， Morris Bober， and supports Morris's daughter to go to college. In A New Life， Seymour Levin gives up his academic career to take responsibility for his boss' wife and her adopted children. In The Fixer， Yakov Bok recognizes the illegitimate child of his wife's lover.
In contrast with Malamud's heroes discussed above， Avery defines Richard Wright's heroes as black protagonists in adversity who， hoping to free and realize themselves， refuse to love but hate others. They become violent rebels who attack others， but end in destroying themselves and others. In Avery's analysis， Less巳rand Willie are closer to Wright's protagonists than to Malamud's ones in his earlier works. Malamud's message in The Tenants is that even a Jew becomes a rebel without enduring hardship when he has to stand with his back against the wal .l
Especially in the case of racial conflictラwherethe sense of the victim is intensified， the situation becomes aggravated. The old African chief in Lesser's dream utters a pessimistic and eerie prediction:
If somebody do bad it do not die. It live in the hut， the yard， and the village. The ceremony of reconciliation is useless. Men say the words of peace but they do not forgive the oth紅 白 He say if you be sure to remember his words. (211‑12)
This tribal chief's prophetic words contrast with the optimistic and idealistic prediction by a rabbi of Judaism in the same dream: Someday God will
bring together Ishmael and Israel to live as one people. It won't be the first miracle" (216). The conclusion of The Te叩 ntsproves that the African chief is right， that is， liberal and idealistic Jewish thought on the race question is denied by a primitive an eye for an eye " principle by which the victim never forgives but takes revenge on his oppressor to the last.16
The Tenanお endsin the brutal mutual murders of Lesser and Willie: Lesser smashes Willie's brain with an ax; Willie slashes Lesser's testicle with a saber. According to Avery， the ending implies that:
Lesser no longer need fear Spearmint as an artistic or intellectual threat; the destruction of his manuscript is also avenged. Spear‑ mint， meanwhile， castrates the J ew who has stolen his girlfriend， destroyed his typ日writerand his creativity. But， by destroying that which most thr巴atensthem， they also destroy themselves and the possibility of harmony between disparate peoples and culturesY
The mutual murders suggest that when both of them are rebels， they thoroughly hate， fight， and destroy the other， which brings violent deaths to both of them. It is not until the moment they feel the pain of death that each realizes the agony of the other : Each， thought the writer， feels the anguish of the other" (230)
The way the book finishes leaves some questions and embarrassments to readers. After witnessing the self‑centeredness of Lesser， Willie， and Irene， readers may naturally wonder if there is any hope in this tragic ending. After
THE END " of the story， Levenspiel shows up like the chorus in a Greek tragedy and continues to cry mercy" 113 times. The book is closed without a concluding period. The mysterious mourning cry of Levenspiel
Human Egoism of Victims: 15 seems to leave some hope amid the bloody ending of The Tenants
The key issue of of The Tenants lies in the interpretation of the last paragraph: how the last word mercy" should be explained:
Mercy， the both of you， for Christ's sak，巴Levenspiel cries. Hab rachmones， 1 beg you目 Mercyon me. Mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy.・ 田 (230)
Mercy " can be interpreted on three levels. Firs ，tif the word is interpreted as God's pitiful forbearance toward His creaturεs and forgiveness of their offence， "18 readers can find the author's message that helpless human beings are saved from this eschatological situation by begging for m巴rcyfrom God.19 Second， if th巴wordis interpreted as forbearance and compassion shown by one person to another who is in his power and who has no claim to receive kindness， "20 readers can find the author's message that violent conflicts among human beings are avoided and peaceful coexistεnce is possible only by having forbearance and compassion on one another.21 Extending this idea， mercy could be a way for integrating racial groups. Whether mercy" is discussed on a religious level or an inter‑personallevel， Levenspiel's last cry of mercy" could be a cry of hope in the face of the bloody ending of The Tenants.
The third interpretation of mercy" arises from the analysis of Leven‑
spiel's character. Levenspiel is too mean and egocentric a character to assume the role either of religious salvation or racial integration. Including Yiddish equivalent Hab rachmones，" Levenspiel uses the sentence four
tJmes Have mercy on me." He pleads with Lesser to have mercy " on him and move out of his apartment. The word mercy " is uttered or written by Levenspiel only when he requests something of Lesser， not when he shows
his forbearance and compassion to others.
To have rachmones， according to the Hebrew root， means to look upon others with the same love and feeling that a mother feels for the issue of her womb. ，，22 The word rachmones" implies the most vital and warmest feeling in human relatIons. But to ask others to love and care for oneself as a mother does for her baby reveals nothing but one's egoistic human nature which only hopes to receive. Levenspiel's cry in front of the corpses comes from his self‑centeredness. He mourns for neither Lesser nor Willie but reproaches them; this troublesome accident would not have occurred if out of mercy on him they had left the apartment house earlier. As he warned before:
My God， Lesser， look what you have done to yourself. You're your worst enemy， bringing a naked nigger into this house. If you don't take my advice and move out you'll wake up one morning playing a banjo in your grave." (169)
The party to whom the cry is addressed is changed in the fIrst two lines. His reproach to L巳sserand Willie turns into his prayer for God to hav巴mercyon him， a weak and helpless victim. This modest and humblεprayer sounds a cry of an egoistic and self‑centered victim who loves and cares only for himself on a personal level.
The 113 repetitions of mercy" lack persuasive power and giv巴 the impression that it is just a visual play， because Levenspie'ls prayer does not reach a universal integrated level but stays on a personallevel. The ending， which seemingly offers a
J
ewish solution to the violent confiict， turns out to be an exposure of human egoism only to protect oneself. The conclusion of The Tenants shows Malamud's disillusionment with human nature: that humanHuman Egoism of Victims : 17 beings are egoistically obsessed with the consciousness of being victims. Therefore the last paragraph is importan.t After concluding the story about Lesser and Willie， the author turns his eyes from inter‑racial issues to more universal human nature. The pettiness and meanness of human nature is presented through a petty and mean character， Levenspiel. Malamud' s repetition of mercy "reveals human smallness through Levenspiel's own.
The absence of any concluding period aft巴r113 repetitions of mercy implies the limitless continuity of human self‑centeredness. Levenspiel's personal cry ironically conveys a universal message
In the process to achieve this conclusion of universal human nature， the racial issue plays an essential role in The Tenants. What makes The Tenants more special than an exposure of human nature in victims is its employment of racial stereotypes as victims目 Theracial issue provides the discussion of the victims' egoism with the most intense and dramatic situation. The Tenants is a book which vividly reveals the victims' human nature through accurate description of stereotyped black‑
J
ewish confiicts of those daysN o t e s
1. Bernard Malamud， The Tenants (New York: Farrar， Straus and Giroux， 1971) Subsequent quotations from The Tenants refer to this edition; hereafter， all page references will be given in parentheses after the quotatio日
2. Levenspiel uses the word mercy" three times including the Yiddish equivalent before the last scene to ask Lesser to leave his apartment house: please have mercy" (9) Ha ve a little mercy" (17); and Hab rachmones "
(18). The question of using mercy" will be discussed later in this paper 3. This fact has been pointed out by several writers， critics， and scholars such as :
J ames Baldwin， Notes 01 a Native Son (New Y ork: Bantam Books， 1964)， p. 56 ; Shlomo Katz (ed.) ， Negro and Jew: An Encounter in America (London: Macmillan， 1967)， p. vii; Stanley Schatt， Understanding Modern Ame門can
Literature (Hiroshima: Bunka Hyoron， 1977)， pp. 19‑20; and Robert G. Weis‑
bord and Arthur Stein， Bittersweet Encounter: The Afro‑American and the American Jew (Westport， Conn.: Negro University Press， 1970)， p. 40. 4. James Baldwin， p. 58.
5. Richard Wright， Black Boy; A Record of Childhood and Youth (New York:
Harper & Brothers， 1945; Perenial Classic， 1966)， P・70.
6. Leslie A. Fiedler in Negro and Jew:An Encounter in America， ed. Shlomo Katz (London: Macmillan， 1967)， p. 37
7. Cynthia Ozick，Literary Blacks and Jews， " Bernω‑d Malamud: A Collection ofC口ticalEssays， eds. Leslie A. Field and Joyce W. Field (Englewood Cliffs， N
J.: Prentice‑Hall， 1975)， pp. 91 and 94 8. lbi .，d p. 95
9. Leslie A. Fiedler， No! ln Thunder: Essays on Myth and Literature (Boston: Beacon， 1960)， p. 232
10. David Mesher，Names and Stereotypes in The Tenants， " Studi目 inAmerican Jewish Literatur ，e4: 1 (Spring 1978)， 57
11. Jeffrey Helterman， Understanding Ber削 rd Mal，αmud (Columbia， South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press， 1985)， p. 13
12. Sandy Cohen， Bernard Malamud and the Trial by Love (Amsterdam: Rodopi N. V.， 1974)， p. 116
13. John Alexander Allen， The Promised End: Bernard Malamud's The Tenants，" Bernard Malamud: A Collection of Critical Essays， eds. Leslie A. Field and Joyce W. Field (Engl引;voodCliffs， N. J: Prentice‑Hall， 1975)， pp. 109‑10. 14. Sheldon J. Hershinow， Berηαrd Mαtαmud (New York: Frederick Ungar，
1980)， p. 93
15. The characteristics of the protagonists in Malamud's earlier works are a part of Evelyn Gross Avery's overall analysis in her book， Rebels and Victims: The Fiction of Richard Wright and Bernard Malamud (Port Washington， N. Y Kennikat， 1979).
16. Iska Alter interprets the chief's words as a warning about the sin of past slavery， and suggests that integration may be unable to redeem the sins of slavery." The Good Man's Dilemma: Social Criticism in the Fiction of Bernω‑d Malamud (New Y ork: AMS， 1981)， p. 81
17. Evelyn Gross Avery， p. 105.
18 Mercy，
" ο
'xford English Dictio附 ry.Vo .lVIHuman Egoism of Victims: 19 19. This interpretation of mercy as a universal and religious plea is supported by Roderick Craib， Jacob Korg， and Sheldon Hershinow: Roderick Craib， The Tenants: Bernard Malamud，" Commonwea ，l95 (December 24，1971)，311; Jacob Korg，Ishmael and Israel，" Commentary， 53・5 (May， 1972)， 84; and Sheldon Hershinow， p. 92
20. Mercy，"ゐιcz.t
21. Mitsuo Hata and Teruo Tanaka argue the importance of mercy among human beings. Sheldon Hershinow also supports the riecessity of human involvement : Mitsuo Hata， ，Groping for Redemptive Compassion: The Tenants by Bernard Malamud，" Annual Rφort of Stud凶 ofShizuoka Women' s University， 17 (1983)， 183; Teruo Tanaka， To Outwit Tragedy: Malamud's Tenants，" Studies in English Language and Literature of Seinan Gakuin University， 19: 2 (December 1978)， p. 67; and Sheldon Hershinow， p. 97
22. Rachmones，" Leo Rosten， The Joys of Yiddish (New Y ork: Pocket Books， 1968)， pp. 304‑05
