"Gimpel the Fool" by Isaac Bashevis Singer describes the life of a Jewish orphan in an eastern European Jewish village who is labeled a fool by the community. The overly trustworthy Gimpel allows his fellow villagers to trick him into wedding Elka, the village prostitute, who is also an orphan. He lives happily with Elka and her illegitimate child until he finds her with other men and asks the rabbi for a divorce. Gimpel longingly reconciles his relationship with Elka and she bears six more children, but only on her deathbed when reveals the truth of her promiscuity and the children's bastardization that he loses his faith in God and his innocence. He regains his faith by refusing to surrender to devilish impulses that incite him to seek retribution on his community, and in so doing, frees himself to travel the world. Gimpel, who lives the youthful half of his life being called a fool, keeps peace by trusting in others and in God; however, only after he loses faith and has to rediscover God does he begin to believe in himself.

Gimpel keeps peace in his community by giving others the benefit of the doubt while admiring others' resolve, for he lacks firm beliefs in anythin

Gimpel trusts others and God until a visit by the devil forces him to rediscover God and start to believe in himself. By keeping his characters simple and his narration plain, Singer uses Gimpel as a fable to teach his opinion about God being within each individual and to expound on his views of the truth. Gimpel's difficulty in finding faith in God, which directly connects to his problems with believing in himself, signifies man's incomplete relationship between God and the inner self. Singer's shtetle, Frampol, is a microcosm for the world- many people believe in 'God' but don't have true faith because they deceive themselves and thereby destroy the images of God. Gimpel represents the only individual true to himself, others, and thus God, is the only one who will enter Heaven, the real world, happily. Gimpel, who is finally at peace with himself, God, and the truth, states, "When the time comes I will go joyfully. Whatever may be there, it will be real, without complication, without ridicule, without deception. God be praised: there even Gimpel cannot be deceived" (108). Therefore Singer ends his fable on a note of victory, signifying an uplifting for Gimpel as he sheds the burdens of his Earthly world- deception, ridicule, and complexity- and prepares for the purity of his ultimate life in heaven.

g but God and those he admires. Instead of causing trouble, Gimpel allows others to have the satisfaction of deceiving him. He reflects, "I was no weakling. If I slapped someone he'd see all the way to Cracow. But I'm really not a slugger by nature. I think to myself, Let it pass. So they take advantage of me... Second, I had to believe when the whole town came down on me! If I ever dared to say, 'Ah, you're kidding!' there was trouble. People got angry" (99). He later states, "I believed them, and I hope it did them some good" (99). Moreover, he admires his peers' resolve because he lacks the courage of his own convictions. He marvels at his crude wife Elka's self confidence, conveying, "I don't want to lie about it; I didn't dislike Elka either, for that matter. She swore at me and cursed,

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Approximate Word count = 1434
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)