Essay About Frank Alpin And Sympathetic Frank Alpine

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“THE ASSISTANT” MALAMUD (end of 3rd chapter)
The scene that we are going to study appears at the end of the third chapter: after having had an argument with
Ward Minogue, Frank Alpin comes back to the grocery. Here he look secretly at Helen in the bathroom and manages
to see her naked. Earlier in the same chapter the readers learnt that the sympathetic Frank Alpine who helps
Morris Bober is also a thief and responsible for the robbery of Morris at the beginning of the novel.
Frank Alpine is almost the main character of the novel, as he is “the assistant”, and the conflict of his changing mind
is among the main conflicts of the novel.
How does this passage gives the readers the whole complexity of Frank Alpines personality?
To begin well see to what extent is Frank Alpine a complex and tortured character, then, in a second part, well
see how did Malamud manage to make Frank Alpine sympathetic to the readers.
Throughout the novel Frank Alpine is torn between the man he would like to be and the one he is when he does bad deeds.
This aspect of his complex personality is quite obvious in this excerpt of the novel. Before managing to look at Helens naked
body, as he attempt to get a view of the bathroom, we can see that Frank experiences several different feelings.
At the beginning of the excerpt, his weakness clearly appears: “Frank struggled against himself but not for long”.
Here the reader is not sure yet about what is going to happen, but the fact that Frank struggles against him appear as
a clue as to what Frank attempt to do. We can guess that it will go against the new way of life that Frank would like
to follow, having Morris Bober as an example. Another clue about his weakness also appears at this moment: “His heart shook
him with its beating”. Here we can see that he is really
affected emotionally, and his emotions seem to be stronger than his nous,
he knows that he shouldn
attempt to look secretly at Helen in the bathroom but he continues all the same:
“But if you do it, he told himself, you will suffer”. This is Franks nous that expresses itself, but he quickly gives way to his desire:
“The excitement of what he might see forced him to go up”.
All these clues that are given to the reader show Frank Alpines complexity, his contradictions, even if he is aware of the potential
problem that could bring his deeds, he can
help performing them. Throughout the novel Frank transforms into a good guy, and this
event appear as a stage that he has to go through in order to prevail at last.
Another contradiction in Franks feelings is obvious about his sentiments toward Helen, he seems to be torn between love and sexual
desire. Besides these two sentiments seem to be confused in Franks mind: “He felt a throb of pain at her nakedness, an overwhelming
desire to love her.” Here love and desire are associated, Frank “desires” to love Helen. He feels shameful for what he is doing: “her eyes
reflecting his sins”, even if he is dreaming about pure love, he sees sin in what he is doing, he is lost between love and lust.
All these personal details of Franks personality are
t the quality what we usually
expect from the protagonist of a novel, and yet
Frank doesn
appear as a detestable character.
As Morris Bober, Frank Alpine is among the most important characters of the novel, after all he is “the assistant”, and gives its title
to the novel (even if one could wonder wether the assistant is Frank Alpine or Morris Bober). How does Frank Alpine, a kind of anti-hero,
evokes the sympathy of the readers? Indeed, thinking about what he is doing, the readers could put Frank into the same category
as a sexual pervert. From the beginning of the excerpt to the moment when Frank looks at Helen in the bathroom, Franks