Doubtful Conversion to Faith

Abstract

The following paper examines the employment of humor in the short story Conversion of the Jews by Philip Roth and Angel Levine by Bernard Malamud to portray characters' perceptions of faith and doubt. The concept of faith and doubt is connected with the process of assimilation of Jews in America in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The process of assimilation, delineation from traditions, and the search for new identity are typical themes of Jewish American writers of that period. Both stories demonstrate that the issue of faith and doubt is extended beyond the Jewish American experience and can be perceived as a universal human dilemma. Such assertion is demonstrated in a comparative analysis of major characters in both stories.