The Role of the Grocery Store in Bernard Malamud's The Assistant

Abstract

The grocery store is an important motif in Malamud's work. The grocery store plays a complex role in the formation of the Jewish identity of The Assistant's main characters. The store is both the origin of the main characters’ suffering and the reason for their transformation. Fruthermore, it store functions as an important setting, as well as a catalyst and metaphor for the formation of the main characters' Jewish identity.