Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies - On rascals (Chap. 7)

Résumé du document

What we have here is an extract from the novel the Brooklyn Follies, written by Paul Auster and published in 2005. Earlier in the novel, we discovered the main character, Nathan Glass, a 60 year old man in remission from cancer. He was looking for a quiet place to die, but after a moment, he changed his mind and started thinking in a more optimistic way. He met his nephew, Tom, and Harry Brightman, Tom's employer. In this passage, the scene takes place at the Cosmic Diner and then in the street. Only Nathan and Tom are present but other characters are mentioned. It is the case of Harry Brightman and Rachel (Nathan;s daughter). We may wonder in what way the passage is representative of the whole novel.

Extraits

[...] So Jacob became leader of the Jews, the rascal won. The problem is that Jacob wasn't punished by God. Moreover, he also received his mother's benediction. Tom says came across that story in the Bible, I didn't understand a thing” l.80. Indeed, the bad guy wins, it doesn't seem right. That is the morality for Nathan, if you have to choose a leader, it must be the stronger and clever one, not the weaker and kinder one. To conclude, we can say that this passage is significant of the whole novel, because the book's main themes are present: the religion, the evolution from pessimism to optimism through Harry's story, the identity, the respect of rules, the new departure . [...]

[...] And who are the rascals in the book? Well, a rascal is like a devilish person, a troublemaker. In the passage, Tom and Nathan are talking about Harry. In fact, previously Nathan discovered Harry's true colours. He is considered as a rascal because he faked Alec Smith's work successful painter) with his lover, Gordon Dryer. They swindled money. Because of that, he went in prison and started a new life. He changed his own name from Dunkel to Brightman. Nathan uses a metaphor when he says Harry had fled the dark wood of his former self to emerge as a bright sun in the firmament of duplicity L.30- 31. [...]

[...] For him, he will change. Nathan had an experience in an insurance company. Indeed, he is retired from the insurance business but he was a witness of “human crookedness”. He says, passion for deceit is universal” l.40, that is to say faking his own death is an easy way to make money for example, that's significant of the human crookedness and the rascals. For Nathan, being a rascal follows you your whole life long, humans cannot change. So they disagreed on the subject, but we know that Nathan is right. [...]

[...] Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies - On rascals (Chap. What we have here is an extract from the novel the Brooklyn Follies, written by Paul Auster and published in 2005. Earlier in the novel, we discovered the main character, Nathan Glass, a 60 year old man in remission from cancer. He was looking for a quiet place to die, but after a moment, he changed his mind and started thinking in a more optimistic way. He met his nephew, Tom, and Harry Brightman, Tom's employer. [...]

[...] Whatever, Nathan says “I've always have a soft spot for rascals” l.32. He seems to be fascinated because “rascals they are good at what they are doing. It's what he means l.56. He is fascinated by their cleverness, because they rule the world. Indeed, he takes the examples of Stalin, a dictator, and Jacob and Esau to illustrate what he wants to say. Stalin was a rascal, a psychotic murderer, but he had spirit, he had a project for humanity. [...]