Mr

\"THE ASSISTANT\" MALAMUD (end of 3rd chapter)

The scene that we are going to study appears at the end of the third chapter: after having had an argument with

Ward Minogue, Frank Alpin comes back to the grocery. Here he look secretly at Helen in the bathroom and manages

to see her naked. Earlier in the same chapter the readers learnt that the sympathetic Frank Alpine who helps

Morris Bober is also a thief and responsible for the robbery of Morris at the beginning of the novel.

Frank Alpine is almost the main character of the novel, as he is \"the assistant\", and the conflict of his changing mind

is among the main conflicts of the novel.

How does this passage gives the readers the whole complexity of Frank Alpine\'s personality?

To begin we\'ll see to what extent is Frank Alpine a complex and tortured character, then, in a second part, we\'ll

see how did Malamud manage to make Frank Alpine sympathetic to the readers.

Throughout the novel Frank Alpine is torn between the man he would like to be and the one he is when he does bad deeds.

This aspect of his complex personality is quite obvious in this excerpt of the novel. Before managing to look at Helen\'s naked

body, as he attempt to get a view of the bathroom, we can see that Frank experiences several different feelings.

At the beginning of the excerpt, his weakness clearly appears: \"Frank struggled against himself but not for long\".

Here the reader is not sure yet about what is going to happen, but the fact that Frank struggles against him appear as

a clue as to what Frank attempt to do. We can guess that it will go against the new way of life that Frank would like

to follow, having Morris Bober as an example. Another clue about his weakness also appears at this moment: \"His heart shook

him with its beating\". Here we can see that he is really

affected emotionally, and his emotions seem to be stronger than his nous,

he knows that he shouldn\'t attempt to look secretly at Helen in the bathroom but he continues all the same:

\"But if you do it, he told himself, you will suffer\". This is Frank\'s nous that expresses itself, but he quickly gives way to his desire:

\"The excitement of what he might see forced him to go up\".

All these clues that are given to the reader show Frank Alpine\'s complexity, his contradictions, even if he is aware of the potential

problem that could bring his deeds, he can\'t help performing them. Throughout the novel Frank transforms into a good guy, and this

event appear as a stage that he has to go through in order to prevail at last.

Another contradiction in Frank\'s feelings is obvious about his sentiments toward Helen, he seems to be torn between love and sexual

desire. Besides these two sentiments seem to be confused in Frank\'s mind: \"He felt a throb of pain at her nakedness, an overwhelming

desire to love her.\" Here love and desire are associated, Frank \"desires\" to love Helen. He feels shameful for what he is doing: \"her eyes

reflecting his sins\", even if he is dreaming about pure love, he sees sin in what he is doing, he is lost between love and lust.

All these personal details of Frank\'s personality are\'nt the quality what we usually

expect from the protagonist of a novel, and yet

Frank doesn\'t appear as a detestable character.

As Morris Bober, Frank Alpine is among the most important characters of the novel, after all he is \"the assistant\", and gives its title

to the novel (even if one could wonder wether the assistant is Frank Alpine or Morris Bober). How does Frank Alpine, a kind of anti-hero,

evokes the sympathy of the readers? Indeed, thinking about what he is doing, the readers could put Frank into the same category

as a sexual pervert. From the beginning of the excerpt to the moment when Frank looks at Helen in the bathroom, Frank\'s

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