other kids being mean to him in school. That combined with his rigorous honesty, you find yourself sympathizing for Gimpel. Singer makes Gimpel out to be an innocent soul that is taken advantage of for the other children’s amusement and entertainment. By doing this Singer makes the other children antagonist characters. In a way the children are lumped together to be one character; kind of like Gimpel’s nemesis. Singer uses a couple of different ways to create the character Gimpel. First of all he uses what other characters say about him and do to him. As we know the other kids at school say he is a fool, and take advantage of him for their own entertainment. I don’t think that this was used make him into a foolish character. I think it was used to make Gimpel into a victim, a sympathetic character. Next, the narrator’s descriptions of himself do a big part of creating his character. In the opening lines he says, “I don’t think myself a fool. On the contrary.” Plus the last few sentences he that talks of himself as not being a slugger and he acknowledges the fact that the kids are taking advantage of him. It really makes Gimpel out to not being a fool, but and makes him into being some kind of martyr. Thirdly, I think that the actions of the narrator, him being a nonviolent person, kind makes out to be above that kind of behavior. Which doesn’t make Gimpel a fool at all, it makes the other children the fools.Work Cited“Gimpel the Fool.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama 7th edition. 1999. Kennedy, X.J. and Giola, Dana. Isaac Basevis Singer:Translated by Saul Bellow. ...
