Roth, Philip. "Defender of the Faith".

Summary

The story is set in late spring 1945, after the end of military operations in Europe. The first-person narrator, Sergeant Nathan Marx, is rotated from Germany to a training company at Camp Crowder, Missouri. He served in infantry in the European theatre of operations for two years.

The first evening in the camp, Marx is approached by the nineteen-year-old trainee Sheldon Grossbart. Grossbart concluded from Marx’s name that Marx is Jewish like him. He complains about the cleaning of the barracks which takes place on Friday nights when Jews are supposed to be in the synagogue. Trainees are allowed to attend services whenever they are held but Grossbart complains that other trainees accuse him of running away from work. Marx does not like the mood of intimacy that Grossbart forces on him on grounds of their shared faith but he considers the matter.

The next day Marx issues a public announcement which explicitly reminds the trainees that they are allowed to attend the Jewish service. Grossbart comes to thank him and to introduce his fellow Jewish trainees Larry Fishbein, aged nineteen, and the timid Mickey Halpern, aged eighteen. The three attend the service and so does Marx. Grossbart and Fishbein do not pay much attention to the chaplain, only Halpern responds in prayer.

A week later Captain Paul Barrett, Marx’s commanding officer, calls Marx to explain a letter from Grossbart’s father to Congressman Franconi. The letter complains of the food in the training camp which is inconsistent with Jewish dietary practices. Trainee Grossbart allegedly throws up each meal. Barrett and Marx drive to the shooting range to confront Grossbart. Barrett appeals to Grossbart, pointing out the example of Marx who did much more for the Jews by killing the Germans than Grossbart by throwing up a sausage.

When they are alone, Grossbart admits that the letter was actually about Mickey who has problems with the food. Marx discovers that Grossbart’s parents do not speak English and Grossbart confesses that he wrote the letter himself. Two days later an eloquently styled letter is forwarded from the Congressman, in which Grossbart’s father informs that the problem has been solved with assistance of Marx. An attached communique informs General Lyman that Sergeant Marx is a credit to the U.S. army and to the Jewish people.

Grossbart disappears from Marx’s life for some time but then he arrives in his office to ask a favour. He wants a pass which would allow him to join his aunt in St Louis for a dinner on the occasion of a Jewish feast. Marx refuses to grant Grossbart any special treatment. Grossbart is to leave the camp anyway, on which Marx signs the pass after all. A while later Grossbart brings also Fishbein and Halpern and asks for passes also for them. Marx has himself persuaded how much it would mean for the boys and signs the passes for all the three.

The next night Grossbart comes to ask if Marx happens to know anything about their orders. He presses for sympathy and describes how Halpern cries and how it would help him to know where they will be sent. Marx does not want to fight and argue with him, so he tells him that they will go to the Pacific. Grossbart asks if Marx could not do something to change the orders, but it is not possible. Grossbart promised to bring Marx a piece of fish from the feast but he gives him a Chinese egg roll. He makes up an excuse but Marx realizes that he has been tricked.

A week later orders come. All the trainees will be sent to the Pacific but for Grossbart who will go to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Marx realizes that Grossbart found another fellow Jew who must have helped him. Marx uses his influence and changes the orders so that Grossbart will go the Pacific with others. Grossbart accuses him of being an anti-Semite. Marx assures him that he will be all right, even in the Pacific, and he really thinks that Grossbart’s manipulative skills will keep him safe.

Analysis

The story interweaves two main themes, the Jewishness and the Second World War. It focuses on the conflict between two strong characters, Marx and Grossbart, who are both Jews involved in the war but who assume contrasting approaches to their religious and military life. Marx suppresses his emotions and hardens himself both against feelings of compassion with the victims of war and feelings of triumph when he, as a Jew, marches through the defeated Germany. Grossbart calculates to evoke emotions in people and exploits both his religion and his fellow trainees to achieve his selfish aims.

The story also explores the concept of Messiah in the context of the war. Captain Barrett admires Marx as a hero who fought against the Nazis and defended the Jews. In this sense, Marx might be perceived as a Messiah, the saviour of his people, though he is just one of many Jewish soldiers participating in the war. Grossbart accuses Marx of acting like a Messiah when he learns that he sent him to the Pacific. Marx’s final action against Grossbart may be read in several ways: as a revenge on the trainee who cheated him, as an attempt to restore equal conditions for all the trainees, or even as an attempt to protect Halpern and Fishbein by sending them out together with their inventive and world-wise friend.