Ozzie Freedman/Hero
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Ozzie Freedman Portrayed as a Hero
A hero can be defined as one who inspires through manners and actions; who leads through personal example. Under this definition, the character Ozzie Freedman from Philip Roths “The Conversion of the Jews” (1959) can be classified as a hero. The sections of Discoveries: Fifty Stories of the Quest (Schechter & Semekis 1992): The Call, The Other, The Journey, Helpers and Guides, The Treasure, and Transformation, can be applied to the story about Ozzie to support its inclusion in this class, entitled “Myth of the Hero”.
The chapter on The Call describes that a hero may be “on the brink of a decisive change” (21) and they “perceive the danger of remaining where they are” (22). The hero must be “ready to leave [his] old, familiar [life] behind and move on to something new” (23). In “The Conversion of the Jews”, we see Ozzie questioning his faith and going against the Jewish teaching by believing that God could “let a woman have a baby without having intercourse” (384). He stood up to the rabbi in class and was prepared to defend his questioning and beliefs.
The Other is a character who embodies the exact opposite personality of the protagonist. According to Schechter & Semekis, the Other causes self-revelation in the protagonist, which his journey would not begin without. In Roths story, Itzie is Ozzies best friend, who does not question authority or his faith, quite the opposite of Ozzie. He
gives Ozzie a hard time for always asking questions and speaking out in class. (“What do you open your mouth all the time for?” (383)). Ozzie realizes he doesnt want to be like Itzie and blindly accept the Jewish belief about Jesus. He defends his right to question something in order to seek validity, and says, “Itz, I thought it over for a solid hour, and now Im convinced God could do it.”
Discoveries describes The Journey as a portrayal of “how difficult the heros quest is” (8). In Roths story, Ozzie faces “external enemies, agents of conservatism or conformity that must be overcome” (Schechter & Semekis, 8). He is speaking out against the Jewish religion, saying that he believes God could impregnate a woman without her having intercourse. When he delivers this defiance to Rabbi Binder, he is yelled at and punished by having to sit in the office for an hour and his mother has to come in for a meeting regarding his behavior. When Ozzie tells his mother, Mrs. Freedman, why she must meet with the rabbi, “she hit Ozzie across the face with her hand” (Roth, 385). The next week, he stood up to the rabbi once more saying he believed God could do anything, and the rabbi hit him “squarely on the nose” (387). Rabbi Binder and Mrs. Freedman have blind faith in their religion, and are not open to change or accepting of other beliefs. They are so appalled by Ozzies questioning that they turn to violence to try to snap him out of it. Ozzie, however, realizes they are wrong and that one should always be able to follow their personal beliefs on God. He tells his mother, “You shouldnt hit me about God Mamma. You should never hit anybody about God-” (394).
A Helper and Guide is supposed to be a figure “who assist[s] the protagonist along the difficult road” (Schechter & Semekis, 9). In “The Conversion of the Jews”, Rabbi Binder is supposed to Ozzies spiritual leader in the Jewish faith. However, he
lashes out at Ozzie for asking intelligent and perceptive questions about God and the Jewish religion. By being defensive and non-understanding, the rabbi winds up turning Ozzie away from the Jewish religion and in turn is given a message about religion and faith from Ozzie while he is up on the roof of the synagogue.
Heroes pursue The Treasure because “they believe that the things they are looking for will change their lives” (Schechter & Semekis, 406). “That the heroes … are willing to risk humiliation, defeat, and possibly death in order to achieve whatever end they are striving for is a sign of is ultimate value”