Isaac Bashevis Singer’s, The Slave, is arguably one of the most captivating love stories between a Jew and a Christian, that takes place in early modern Poland. The Slave demonstrates how Polish nobility exploited their power over the peasants and how faithful Jews were even though they were being pursued for their faith. The relationships between different social class in early modern Poland were quite chaotic. Peasants had little to no how they could live their lives for they were under the control of their lord. Peasant women could be taken advantage of by their lords at any moment and bore bastards. Lords had ultimate authority in their towns, everything they said, went. At this time Cossacks were ransacking towns, raping women, and murdering Jews while Polish authority did little to help. Jews lived in constant fear of being killed due to their faith but they remained loyal. Society was quite chaotic and lacked proper management, the people of Poland did not support one another but instead focused on their differences.
Peasants at this time were very uncivilized and …show more content…
Dziobak, the town’s priest, was rarely ever sober. The peasant believed in whatever words came out of his mouth. When he was at the bar, people were discussing Jacob and Dziobak responded “What’s there to talk about? Climb up and dispose of him in God’s name. I warned you, did I not, little brothers? I said he would bring only misfortune” (Singer, 35). His opinion about the Jew influenced the town’s and this only contributed to their hate towards the Jew. Dziobak often neglected his duties but the peasants still looked up to him. This goes to show that the peasants weren’t really that into religion and what it entailed of its followers. They were Catholic because they were told to be Catholic, if Poland had turned Jewish then all the peasants would convert to Judaism, they didn’t really care enough to argue to practice the religion of their
Peasants at this time were very uncivilized and …show more content…
Dziobak, the town’s priest, was rarely ever sober. The peasant believed in whatever words came out of his mouth. When he was at the bar, people were discussing Jacob and Dziobak responded “What’s there to talk about? Climb up and dispose of him in God’s name. I warned you, did I not, little brothers? I said he would bring only misfortune” (Singer, 35). His opinion about the Jew influenced the town’s and this only contributed to their hate towards the Jew. Dziobak often neglected his duties but the peasants still looked up to him. This goes to show that the peasants weren’t really that into religion and what it entailed of its followers. They were Catholic because they were told to be Catholic, if Poland had turned Jewish then all the peasants would convert to Judaism, they didn’t really care enough to argue to practice the religion of their