and believes it to be the truth.The reason behind Gimpel’s lifelong continuation of evading the painful truth is his belief in the afterlife. He believes very strongly in the concepts of heaven and hell, and tells himself that everything will be much better when he is able to reach that final destination. But actually, Gimpel avoids the pain in that aspect of his life as well. Throughout his entire life he has been deceived, so what keeps his belief from being a deception as well? At one point, Gimpel begins to question his beliefs. In a dream, a spirit tells him that there is no God, no judgment day in the afterlife and for a moment Gimpel releases the questioning side of his personality. He says, “What…is there then?” if there is no God (418). But Gimpel’s primary motive conquers his doubts and allows him once again to avoid the pain that can be afflicted by a harsh world. To reaffirm his motives and his belief in life, Gimpel states, “Whatever may be there, it will be real, without complication, without ridicule, without deception. God be praised: there even Gimpel cannot be deceived” (420).Gimpel communicates his attitude towards his life and his ideas of meaningfulness to the readers by his tone. The reader can almost hear a pathetic tone in his voice and in his thoughts. He says things such as, “But I’m the type that bears it and says nothing” (415). When the reader hears statements such as these, the reader feels sympathy for Gimpel. With myself as the reader, I could feel the pain that Gimpel feels in his life and how he can make his avoidance of that pain the most meaningful desire in his life. In my accordance with many psychologists, “Some people feel they must be tough and not show any discomfort” (Coon 388). This characteristic of the pain avoidance primary motive is modeled by Gimpel in his efforts and demonstrates the idea of what make...
