In the short story "Defender of the Faith" by Philip Roth, Private Grossbart always justifies his seemingly selfish actions with the excuse of helping others. Sargent Marx sarcastically compares Grossbart to the Messiah. Through characterization and biblical references I will show the similarities and differences between the biblical Messiah and the Jewish Grossbart.
I believe Grossbart is a person with a good heart but a bad motive. Grossbart helps his fellow Jews .
Out whenever he can but there's one catch, he is most of the time at the receiving end of the gifts. While his gifts do help others, they mainly come back to him ten fold. It's almost like the popular biblical story of the conscious, good versus evil, with some differences. Its like he has the demon on one shoulder and the angel on the other. The perilous decision do you choose to do well or do you chose evil. Grossbart does both, instead of choosing between the two he does good but for the wrong reasons. One vivid example of this exact scenario, minus the little demons dancing on his shoulder, is when Grossbart pleads with Sergeant Marx about being aloud to go to the Jewish synagogue, along with all his other Jewish buddies, on Friday evenings. "You see, Sergeant," he explained to me, "Friday nights, Jew's are supposed to go to the services." Sergeant Marx, being a Jew himself, allows Grossbart to go. That Friday Marx went to services as well, he sat two rows behind Grossbart and his fellow comrades only to observe a less than obedient, religious person. .
Sergeant Marx compared Grossbart to the Messiah. Although Marx was just being sarcastic, Grossbart does show some similarities. Grossbart claimed that he fought for the rights of the Jewish people in the military, not for himself but for others. Grossbart like the Messiah helps others. The Messiah gave of his life so that we, his people might have eternal life. Grossbart claims to be fighting "Only to be allowed to live as a Jew.
