My Name is Asher Lev free essay sample

An examination of Chaim Potoks novel, My Name is Asher Lev. This term paper focuses on Chaim Potoks work My Name is Asher Lev. The protagonist of the novel, Asher Lev, is a young orthodox Jewish boy who has dreams of becoming an artist. A major conflict brews, as two extremes collide, the religious old world and the secular new world. This paper argues that Asher Lev shows how the two worlds can only coexist in fiction, but not in their truest states. In Asher Lev, Potok presents the major argument between traditional Jewish beliefs and secular thought, more specifically, the debate over ones role as an individual versus ones role as a member of the community. The protagonist, Asher Lev, a young aspiring artist caught between the two very different worlds of art and Judaism, struggles to show others the possibility of a coexistence between the two. We will write a custom essay sample on My Name is Asher Lev or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Potok writes Asher Lev as a kunstlerroman, the development of the artist from childhood until his artistic maturity (Birk 1). Through depicting the reactions of Ashers family and community to his art both before and after his final paintings, Brooklyn Crucifixion I and II, he suggests that one cannot fully immerse oneself in the secular world while still remaining a part of a traditional Jewish society.