Gimpel the Fool
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Reality isnt always what we want to see. Sometimes we would rather live in a fantasy world rather than deal with real life. In the texts “Gimpel The Fool”, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, and Act Without Words I, each of the fools, Gimpel, Julians mom, and the player all are all in a world of deception. Gimpel and Julians Mom lives in a fantasy world where they deny reality and choose to believe what they want to believe. Gimpel is unwilling to stick up for himself so he decides to ignore what is happening right in front of him. Julians mom is a racist and is unwilling to recognize that whites are not superior to African Americans. Therefore she chooses to believe that her idea on race is shared with everyone. The player lives in a world where he has no mind of his own. He lets a game decieve him, a game in which he can never win. In the end of each of these texts, all the fools come to terms with reality. Gimpel leaves Frampol and finally starts living a life free from lies and deception. Julians mother is fatally hit by an angry black woman. Before her death, Julian explains to her that times have change and you have to face reality. Finally, the player finally stops playing the game, realizing he will never win. The fools Gimpel and Julians mom both deceive themselves to avoid reality while the player is deceived because he has no mind of his own.
Gimpel is as gullible as they come. The villagers of Frampol fool him in so many ways. Throughout this whole piece, deception is the major theme. Gimpel is deceived by other but also deceives himself. His major reason for this is that he doesnt want to experience reality. The reality is that his wife Elka is cheating on him but refuses to believe even though he saw his own apprentice sleeping with her. In Menachem Feuer and Andrew Schmitz described Gimpel as a post holocaust schlemiel, which they define as “by putting reality into parenthesis” (Feuer & Schmitz 98). They say since a schlemiel is above any kind of evil that it must ignore and reject any kind of evil. “The as if lies at the heart of Gimpels philosophy, and less selfconsciously articulated, it is every schlemiels method of coping with reality” (65). He acts “as if” he will never die or “as if” he is good, and by doing this he rejects being, that is, philosophical or political ideas of what it means to be good that may deem his actions bad. This is what Wisse calls a “pursuit of personal goodness” (69).” (Feuer and Schmitz). The comment on Wisses idea of a schlemiel that their way of dealing with reality is acting like everything is when it may not be. To achieve their personal happiness they must reject reality.
Hui Jing Lu and Lei Chang wrote about the relationship between deception and self- concept. They state that “self deception is part of the self-system that suppresses negative aspects of the self and maintains a positive moral self-concept.” (Lu & Chang). This idea is interesting as it relates to the idea of the schlemiel. Part of the self-system of the schlemiel is suppressing the evil around him to achieve the “pursuit of personal goodness”. (Feuer & Schmitz 107). Gimpel refuses to believe the evil around him so he can think everything is alright, when it obviously not.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Julians mom is the fool. She, just like Gimpel, is unwilling to face reality. In her case, she lives in her own world where African Americans are still seen as inferior to whites. While in reality, times have changed and blacks arent slaves anymore, they also live in the same community that Julians mom lives. For her, reality is not actually reality. It takes a hit to the head from a purse for her to realize that. According to Gary Harden “One very mild form of self-deception, which we all practice, is that of judging ourselves more capable, more skilful or more competent than we really are.” (Hayden). Julians mom saw herself or more “competent” (Hayden) than African Americans. She doesnt realize the way she acts is not right. In the story, Julians mom expresses her thoughts on African Americans becoming equal. “Its ridiculous. Its simply not realistic. They should rise, yes, but on their own side of the fence” (OConnor 214). It is interesting she says not realistic because it actually is. It is her who is simply not realistic. In her mind, the idea of African Americans being equal is evil to her. Therefore, she decides to refuse it and live in her own world so she doesnt have to deal with the fact that times have change.
According to Adam Smith “This self-deceit, this fatal weakness of mankind, is the source of half the disorders of human life. If we saw ourselves in the light in which others see us, or in which they would see us if they knew all, a reformation would generally be unavoidable. We could not otherwise endure the sight.”(Smith). Smith believes that if we were able to see how others see us, that people would be able evolve and deception wouldnt exist. In the text, Julian tries to explain to his mom that she cannot act like this. “I hate to see you act like this,” he said. “Just like a child. I should be able to expect more from you.”(OConnor