Bobby Goodman
Dr. Sexson
Lit 240-Bible as Lit.
7 December 2010
Jacob’s Descent
“And the pit was empty, there was no water in it” (Singer 141). Jacob the Jew repeated this passage from the Bible before he made his descent into the cave of Hell. I say Hell, because the dialogue between Jacob and his soul mate, Wanda, proves to the reader that this scene in Isaac Singer’s The Slave could be interpreted as a representation of the two entering an abyss. Up to this point, Jacob has been living the last four years in the custody of a Christian village. Due to his beliefs, he is already alienated from the people of this society, yet he is constantly tempted by sin. Finally, he gives into the temptations of romance and passion. He engages in a physical, sexual relationship with his lover. To Jacob, these sinful acts are projecting him toward a life of wrongdoing and evil. But instead of evil showing itself on Judgment Day, evil strikes Jacob before his death. This occurs when Jacob summons Wanda from her village. It is at this point in the novel that Jacob descends into the depths of Hell and instead of converting Wanda into a Jew, they end up morphing each other into representations of the damned.
Before we begin analyzing a passage from The Salve, it would be appropriate to define the symbolism and meaning behind the Cave. To literary critic, Northrop Frye, the Cave represents descent themes in literature. “Descent themes, as we have them are simply descents to death and hell” (Frye 230). In Frye’s book, Words with Power, a chapter is dedicated to this theme of a cave symbolizing a passageway or entryway into Hell. Frye argues, “We should think of hell as a human construct on the surface of this earth…hell is the world of the lonely crowd” (Frye 230). From these passages of Frye’s book, Hell can be perceived as man’s manifestation of his wrongdoings. Hell exists for this reason; that if man commits an act he feels wrong about committing, he has already begun the descent into Hell. This theme is certainly apparent with Jacob in The Slave. Before Jacob engaged in sexual acts with his lover, he had already begun his descent by his sinful thoughts and desires to fornicate with Wanda.
When Wanda and Jacob descend into the cave, Jacob is immediately met with discomfort. “When he spoke, his muffled voice sounded far off and unfamiliar to him” (Singer 142). This passage from The Slave depicts Jacob feeling uncomfortable and foreign to this place. He has spent the last four years living in a shack on a mountain and although he was trapped in a Christian society, the mountain to him was a symbol of freedom. Jacob would often feel enlightened and more connected to God, but now he was submerged underground in this dark and eerie cave. The fact that the word ‘unfamiliar’ is used to describe his emotions signifies a level of depth to the reader. Jacob clearly feels disconnected from himself and it is because he is in this strange and unknown environment. This description allows the reader to see that this is the first step an individual makes when he begins his descent into a place similar to Hell.
After this mention in the text of Jacob feeling ‘unfamiliar and far off’ from himself, it becomes more apparent that this dark cave is a symbol of a hellish atmosphere. Wanda begins the dialogue by telling Jacob, “If you’d waited a little longer, you would have found me dead” (Singer 142). This quote is significant because it emphasizes more to the reader the kind of mindset Wanda has. She states that if Jacob hadn’t of beckoned his beloved, she would have died. Although it is unclear as to how she would have died, this statement is open for interpretation. From the perspective of the cave representing a place of melancholy, it would be fair to say that Wanda in a sense, does die in this cave. Because it is in this place, that the two decide to remain together forever. They decide this with the understanding that Wanda will no longer be referred to as ‘Wanda’. Instead, she must change her name so no one will recognize her conversion to Judaism. During this period of time, it was extremely disrespectful to covert from Christianity to Judaism. The repercussions of this typically involved excommunication from the church or an immediate hanging. But Wanda is willing to make this choice for love. In the cave, Wanda no longer exists. Instead, a morphing of individualism takes place. Wanda becomes Sarah. Sarah is to assume the role of a mute. This is someone who cannot speak nor understand a verbal language. She is to act this way in the new Jewish town they run off to. Jacob is the only person Sarah can speak to and while the towns’ people will believe Sarah to be dumb, Jacob schemes to secretly teach her Yiddish and the ways of the Jew.
As the conversation continues, Wanda and Jacob discuss why he left her. He tells her how he spoke with a circus proprietor from his homeland while he was held hostage. Fortunately, he was able to establish a ransom ploy so he could return to his family in Josefov. He also tells his lover that he was forced to leave immediately and did not have the chance or the freedom to say goodbye. Her response reflects the environment the two are in. She says, “All they said was that some devils had seized you” (Singer 142). From this quote, it brings more evidence that Sarah thought the cave would be the best place to discuss his disappearing. To Sarah, Jacob had converted to a demonic version of whom she use to know. Perhaps entering the cave would prove to Sarah that Jacob had converted into a symbol of Satan? Before his disappearance, Wanda would often accompany him on the mountain and he would dazzle her with his witty intellect. She knew that if she led him to a cave, he would probably not enter for fear of lizards, snakes and mud; all symbols of Hell. However since he had mysteriously left, she had assumed he had taken the role of an evil force and entering a cave would no longer bother him.
When we return to the biblical passage, “And the pit was empty, there was no water in it” (Singer 141) the next statement from Jacob proves to the reader he is entering a demonic abyss. “The Talmud added, ‘There was no water in it, but there were snakes and lizards’” (Singer 141). These statements are strong and depict exactly what Jacob is thinking. He knows he is entering an abyss. It is apparent this cave represents to Jacob the depths and passageway into Hell. From the beginning of this passage that we have analyzed, the dialogue and Jacob’s thought process indicates to the reader that this cave is a literary symbolic illustration of hell. During this time when the two lovers are submerged underground, they seem to have a different type of tone toward one another. Jacob feels ‘unfamiliar’ and ‘far off’ from his normal state of being. When he first enters the cave, he chokes and gags on the air as if he is truly entering a foreign world. Wanda tells Jacob that if he had rescued her any later, there was a good chance she would already be dead. But I am here to argue, that Wanda is dead. Once the two ascend back to Earth, she takes the roll of Sarah who is a mute. She has to completely change her individualism and portray her mannerisms of somebody she is not. Wanda has left the story and Sarah is born.
When Jacob first disappeared, Wanda heard that devils had taken him away. Is it possible that Wanda actually thought he had suddenly been captured by demons and taken to a far away place? This is definitely what she assumed since she summoned him into a dark and mysterious cave. Before Jacob left Wanda’s village, the two would meet on a mountain and the dialogue between the two seemed imaginative, positive, and heavenly. It is because of this Hell symbol that Jacob and Wanda’s ways were forever altered. Their relationship, their lives, and their faith has radically changed.
Works Cited
Singer, Isaac. The Slave. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995. 141-42. Print.
Frye, Northrop. Words with Power. London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1990. 230
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