Jacob's Home on the Mountain

I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Slave'. When I read the chapter from Frye on the mountain, it made me thing about Jacob from Singer's novel. Although Jacob was considered a slave to the local christians, Jacob was able to still have his own faith. This was something he was not deprived from. I remember reading the dialogue in the scenes when Wanda would accompany her crush....Jacob the Jew. There dialogue seemed witty and charismatic. Jacob discussed ideas and concepts that appeared to Wanda as heavenly and divine. The chapter on the mountain in Frye made me think about these scenes in 'The Slave' in a completely different manner. To me, Jacob represents the type of being that would exist in 'The Earthly Paradise' in Frye's table found on pg 169. Jacob was noble and scholarly. The christian people who lived in the village below him acted callous and hateful, even though they considered themselves loving children of God. This grand illustration (if we were to draw a picture) would show Jacob on a higher plane than the rest of the village towns people. For this, I will include Frye's table:

1st level: "Heaven, in the sense of the place of the presence of God, usually symbolized by the physical heaven or sky"

2nd level: The earthly paradise, the natural and original home of man, represented in the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, which has disappeared as a place but is to a degree recoverable as a state of mind"

3rd level: "The physical environment we are born in, theologically a fallen world of alienation"

4th level: "The demonic world of death and hell and sin below nature"


When we look at 'The Slave' and Frye's table, I'm trying to make the connection that Jacob was located on the second level. I feel this way because he displayed his deep thoughts about God and his purpose in life. It's interesting to note that as soon as he began a physical, sexual relationship, Jacob is cast off the mountain and is set free. The people of the christian polish village represent to me, individuals who would be on the 3rd level. This makes sense considering these people lived by the Bible which would mean they had excepted the 'fall of man'. So they too should be well aware of which Frye level they belong on.