The Assistant Literary Elements

Psychological Fiction / Domestic Fiction

Set in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1940s and 1950s

Narrator: Omniscient narrator;
Point of View: Third-person

Depressing, Bleak, Ironic, Optimistic

Protagonist: Morris Bober; Antagonist: The crooked side of Frank’s personality

Morris maintains his high moral standards despite the adversities he encounters; however Frank poses a challenge, as he is the source of trouble in his household. Frank on the other side grapples with his duality and conflicted self as he takes the path towards moral regeneration.

The climax takes place when Morris catches Frank stealing from the store who also rapes Morris’s daughter Helen later that day.

The initial robbery at the store foreshadows Frank’s involvement and sustained habit of stealing from Morris.

N/A

The novel alludes to Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment as Morris suggests Frank reads it since his ethical quandary resembles the protagonist’s moral journey.

“Morris sat at the table, the dark light of the dusty bulb falling on his head, gazing dully at the few crumpled bills before him, including Helen's check, and the small pile of silver. The gunman with the dirty handkerchief, fleshy, wearing a fuzzy black hat, waved a pistol at the grocer's head. His pimply brow was thick with sweat; from time to time with furtive eyes he glanced into the darkened store. The other, a taller man in an old cap and torn sneakers, to control his trembling leaned against the sink, cleaning his fingernails with a matchstick. A cracked mirror hung behind him on the wall above the sink and every so often he turned to stare into it.”

The paradox emanates from Frank’s moral quandary and in the choices he makes in his life, for instance, he asserts, “Even when I am bad I am good.”

N/A

“…when he had warned him there were two holdupniks across the street”

“The wailing wind cried to him.”