The Function of the Isaiah Story in Henry Roth´s Call It Sleep

by

 Hendrikje Schulze

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2

2. General Facts about Call It Sleep and its Author Henry Roth 2

3. The Structure of the Novel 3

4. A Characterization of David Schearl 5

5. The Function of the "Isaiah Story" in Call It Sleep 7
5.1. The "Isaiah Story" in the Old Testament 7
5.2. The "Isaiah Story" in Call It Sleep - Book III "The Coal", Chapter IV 7
5.3. The symbolic meaning of the "Coal" 9
5.4. The Function of the "Isaiah Story" for David 11

6. David Schearl - A Hero-Messiah? 12

7. Summary 15

8. Bibliography 17

1. Introduction

This paper is concerned with the novel Call It Sleep, a work by the Jewish- American writer Henry Roth. First of all some general facts about the author will be presented to provide an appropriate context for further interpretations. Afterwards the structure of the novel will be explained by giving an overview over the main symbols and their function within the book.

The emphasis will then be put on the characterization of David Schearl, the central character of the novel. His search for purification and salvation will be scrutinized with regard to the "Isaiah Story", a passage of the Old Testament, which is strongly linked to the theme of redemption. At the end of the paper the question whether David can be called a hero-messiah because of his strong sensibility concerning religious themes and experiences will be discussed.

2. General Facts about Call It Sleep and its Author Henry Roth

Call It Sleep was first published in December 1934. Critical reactions to the novel were positive, but as a result of the Great Depression Roth´s publisher went bankrupt and the book disappeared from view for more than 25 years. It was just about in the 1960s that the novel was published again and recognized as an important work of Jewish-American-Immigrant literature.¹

The plot is set in New York just prior to World War I. In the centre of the story stands David Schearl, a six - to - eight - year old Jewish immigrant boy. His personal emotions and reflections on the world he is surrounded by constitute the main part of the novel. Nevertheless, on a second, broader level the plot also deals with the situation of East-European Jewish immigrants coming to America in general.

The story of David Schearl shows quite a lot of parallels to Henry Roth´s own life. Roth himself was born in Galicia, Austria-Hungary in 1906. In 1907, when he was 18 months old, he moved with his mother to New York, where his father had been living already. From 1908 to 1910 the Yiddish speaking family lived in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Afterwards they moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This abrupt change of environs had an enormous influence on the child. He felt himself among strangers and became timid and introspective.²

Since Roth relies upon his own experiences and reflections as the raw material for his fiction, it can be said that the novel has a strong autobiographical impact. Thus his relationship to his father as well as to Judaism are dominant themes in his work.³

Call It Sleep reached a lot of critical attention. It was discussed as an "immigrant", a "Jewish", a "proletarian" and a "Joycean" novel. Actually it is open to a wide variety of interpretations. First of all it probably is an "immigrant" novel because the situation of immigrants, especially of East-European immigrants, is the overlying topic of the book. Secondly, when looking at the language, the customs and the religious motifs presented in the novel one can also recognize that it definitely has a strong Jewish influence. Additionally, it might be called a "proletarian novel" because the milieu the reader enters is that of the working class. Finally, by looking at its extensive use of the stream of consciousness it is indeed influenced by James Joyce´s Ulysses.⁴

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1 Cf. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/henry.htm (05.05.02)

2 Cf. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/henry.htm (05.02.02)

3 Bonnie Lyons, Henry Roth. The Man and His Work. (New York: Cooper Square Pulishers, Inc., 1976) iii. All further page numbers refer to this edition.

4 Ibid.