Final Paper, "Don't Wanna Be Your Slave"

God, Sarah, the Jewish faith, Jan Bzik, passionate lust, the ten commandments, the Polish robbers, Wanda, and true love. In Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel, “The Slave,” Jacob is a slave to all of these people and entities throughout the story. It can be seen that Jacob never becomes a free man in certain respects because he always submits himself to powers other than his own. Jacob remains in some sort of captivity throughout the entire novel, initially his slavery is characterized by disgust and a sense of betrayal. As the story goes on however, he becomes a slave for the right things and his sense of captivity turns into one that is full of enjoyment and passion. This can be illustrated by analyzing how he acts in responses to each one of the captivities he is involved in. In the beginning of the narrative the reader learns that Jacob is a slave for Jan Bzik. He farms and milks the cows for the village down the hill. As Jacob begins his introductory prayer he says, “ 'Thou hast not made me a slave,' he paused. Could these words be spoken by him? He was Jan Bzik's slave.” This illustrates Jacob's unusual position regarding his enslavement in the village. His thoughts are not the typical reflections one would expect to see from a slave, in that they characterize a forgetfulness of his condition. It is as if he has to remind himself he is bound in captivity. Later on in the book when Jacob is called down from the mountain for harvest time he again has an atypical sense of enslavement. “How painful it was for the slave to leave his solitude! He had already scratched forty-three commandments and sixty-nine interdictions into the rock.” Jacob's sense of duty and faith paint and interesting picture when it comes to analyzing his thoughts. He recognizes his enslavement yet he does so in a way that seems to contradict his faith in himself. Arguably Jacob shows more discipline to his religion than his enslavement by Jan Bzik. It seems he would rather scratch commandments into a rock by himself than be a slave for the people of the village. It can be seen that he gets more satisfaction by being a slave to God, than a slave to Jan Bzik. He does so in a way that seems to allow no room for free will, he feels as if all is preordained and he is a slave to his life. The way he feels about Wanda and the lust he has for her at the beginning of the story carries a similar kind of feeling. “Yet Jacob knew that all this had been contrived by Satan; throughout the day he missed her and could not overcome his longing.” Jacob has essentially illustrated a recognition that he has no free will. Where he should see passion for Wanda he characterizes it as lust because it came from Satan and not himself. He sees himself, again, as a slave to sin, where he should see himself as a slave for love, much like Wanda does, “She had fallen in love with the slave at first sight...It was said that the slave had bewitched her.” Others in the community see Wanda as a kind of slave to Jacob. The difference is that Wanda embraces this kind of love as a beneficial power. She illustrates this when she says, “I have done this for you” on the night they sleep together. She submits herself to Jacob and recognizes that he is in control of the situation. Wanda basically becomes a slave to Jacob, who is a slave to his religion, she shares the same sense of duty to him that Jacob shares to God. Jacob's devotion to his religion develops as his relationship with Wanda progresses and only until he fully devotes himself, does it start to be beneficial. Initially Jacob feels that Wanda is pulling him away from his relationship with God, he sees his actions as blasphemy and his feelings for her are like “... a snake, passion lay curled at the bottom.” This image presents the passion for Wanda as a negative force, one that make him feel shame for his actions, because he is still so much a slave for God, he has not yet recognized the captive power of love. As the story goes on, however, and the two of them move to Pilitz, and Jacob begins to recognize this power. “Teaching others, Jacob realized, one also instructed oneself; correcting Sarah's behavior, answering her questions, eradicating her errors, many problems about which he would not have otherwise thought were clarified for him.” His teaching of both Sarah and the children in the town have allowed Jacob to embrace his religion in a more profound way. In his relationship with Sarah he is bringing himself closer to God because he is talking about it and thinking about it with someone other than himself. His slavery is no longer characterized as lonely, but rather as fruitful because he can share it with someone else. In these ways he is becoming a slave for the right reasons, characterized as compassion and discovery. His attitude begins to shift because he begins to recognize his own power to accomplish things and not seeing his actions manifestations of uncontrollable sin. Jacob sees that he can do good on his own in the light of God, he is his own man, still a slave, but one with power. After Sarah's death and Jacob's escape from the Cossacks he get a clears sense of how he should feel about his condition as a slave. He meets with the ferryman named Waclaw, who talks to him about being a slave, like a man is to his wife or like cows are to their herders. He says, “When I hear such things, I say to myself Waclaw not you You'll be nobody's slave...Here at the ferry I'm free as a bird. I think what I please.” Waclaw's sense of freedom does not come from being able to do anything you want, rather it comes from one's thoughts. He sees this as a true manifestation of freedom one's will to think for themselves. Jacob several times cursed his thought and his desires. He saw them as slave like because he did not recognize his own power for having them. The way Jacob should have been thinking all along is presented to him by the Jewish elder he meets towards the end of the novel. When Jacob inquires about what he should do about his son and his wife he learns a valuable lesson about the ways of the world. Jacob insists he has no power to act any other way. Then the elder tells him, “It seems it was not, Free will exists, but so does foreknowledge. 'All is foreseen but the choice is given.' Each soul must accomplish its task,or it would not have been sent here.” This is not unlike slavery as it illustrates a kind of submission to a higher power. The key however, comes in analyzing how one should feel about his life on this earth. Jacob should have understood his free will was not a burden but rather a catalyst for accomplishing his task in life. When Jacob dies his bones are taken to be buried on top of the hill where they also find Sarah's remains. Upon discovering her body the people of the village recognize Sarah as a Jew. “The cemetery had ordained it; Sarah was a Jewish daughter and a sanctified corpse.” The foreknowledge of the universe and God are prevalent in this passage as communicated to the reader. One sees that although people make choices in their life they must always be willing to submit to a higher power. This submission should not be looked upon negatively because in light of Jacob's life. His accomplishments became more profound though this sense of ordainment. It can be seen that Jacob transforms throughout the course of the novel he never stops being a slave he just learns how to be one correctly. He knows this from the beginning, “His years of enforced slavery had been succeeded by slavery that would last as long as he lived.” This slavery that would last the rest of his life should be seen as a manifestation of his own self imposed slavery. His constant submission to the higher power is a choice he makes throughout the book. However, after talking with the elder he sees that he had the power to choose all along. He wanted to be a slave to God, he wanted to be passionate with Wanda, and he wanted to live life as a good person. The important realization by Jacob comes at the end of the book when he sees the power he has had his whole life. “Sometimes Jacob was amazed at the burdens he required his body and his soul to carry.” This sense of amazement is spot on with how Jacob should feel about his choices. The decisions he made as a slave, whether it was to God, Wanda his lust, or the Polish robbers, were his own and because they were is own they were the right choices and they lead him to led a life full of servitude and reverence for his family and all things holy.