Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel The Slave is an introspective work in that it challenges readers to look into their own lives and determine what makes them them what they are. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Jacob, experiences a variety of physical and, more tellingly, spiritual pitfalls that lead him on a journey to discover what makes him and those in his lineage the ones who will be redeemed. Jacob may never accurately identify the cause of human suffering when he so firmly declares, “we are all slaves…the slaves of God.” Perhaps everyone’s life is predetermined? Are humans subject to God in the sense that they are slaves both to their faults, thereby preventing their personal progress and, furthermore, to the imperfections of humanity? The author explores the concept of metaphysical slavery through the use of mood and insinuating that it is a central theme. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Throughout the novel, Jacob acts in accordance with his moral standards as someone raised by the Jewish community, a strict and vehemently rule-governed society. . The Jewish mentality obviously places their methods as superior to any they would consider pagan: “We have no such murderers among the Jews, do we? What do Jewish aristocrats do? The Jews have no nobility, who owns the land? The Jews have no land” (23). By removing Jacob from the land of his ancestors, Singer effectively places him in a situation in which he finds himself out of his element and with no means of immediate escape, allowing the reader to see in him a more solid understanding of the des “murderous pagans”. Wanda is the means of this change in mentality, with her infatuation with this ignorant and impure infidel, Jacobs' provincial mentality is allowed to wander into the realm of uncertainty. This in no way causes him to go directly against his teachings or his faith, but it allows him to think about the causes of suffering from a broader perspective,” lamented the injustice inflicted on all living beings: Jews, Gentiles, even flies. and midges crawling on the hips of cattle (63). In addition to freeing the scope of his views, Jacob, through his physical liberation, is better able to identify the causes of his spiritual bondage. Jacob cannot help but see the injustices in the lands where he finds himself. visits, including among his own, but it is clear that whatever strong examples Singer conveys through his text, they do not serve to distance Jacob from his journey to God's domain in dark and forbidden paths, from least Jacob doesn't. This is the essential point, since Jacob, regardless of the cardinal and constant sins he has committed, is not ashamed to stand in the presence of his creator at the end of the novel, this proves that at least unconsciously , he freed himself from the chains. of implicit insufficiency. No, he considers himself neither redeemed nor forgiven, he stands firm in his beliefs as one would with his foundations, but what frees him from despair is essentially his assertion that he is inadvertently bound: "Everything has remained the same , the old love, the old pain... or who knows, maybe it was always the same Jacob and the same Rachel" (279). Singer here wants the reader to wonder if this concept of preordination, of endless cycle, as a means of redemption, returning to Jacob's assertion that we are all his slaves, does this free us from guilt? Does this belief exclude free will and freedom from?.