This is why Grossbart finds it relatively easy, at first, to manipulate Marx: Marx is vulnerable and off-balance. Thus, he is a prime target for Grossbart. Now, he has a heightened since of his heritage and beliefs. One senses that prior to the war, Marx took his Judaism and his ethnicity for granted. Having witnessed atrocities never believed possible in human history, Marx is keenly aware of his Jewishness as he's never been before. It is this slow recovery from his war experiences that makes him vulnerable to Grossbart's manipulation and machinations. Yet, he is an intelligent, introspective man who is aware that this state of mind, while understandable, is not normal, and during the course of the story, his heart slowly begins to warm-up, to soften. 'I had been fortunate enough,' he says in the first paragraph, 'to have grown an infantryman's heart,' which 'finally grows horny enough for him to travel the weirdest paths without feeling a thing.' As anyone who is confronted on a prolonged, daily basis with misery, violence, tragedy, and death, Marx has had to harden his heart to the point where he could not feel the pain he perpetually witnessed during the war. The reader is informed immediately of the first conflict taking place within Marx. Marx must decide which he will be first: a good sergeant, or a good Jew, or a good human being. Both conflicts are closely intertwined, as Roth explores the struggle one man undergoes to discover which values outweigh others. The other story is Marx's conflict with Grossbart. Notes: Defender of the Faith Notes: 'Defender of the Faith' by Philip Roth There are actually two stories going on at the same time in 'Defender of the Faith.' One is the story of Marx's recovery from his war experiences. The Defender of the Faith Summary Philip Roth.
Complete summary of Philip Roth's The Defender of the Faith.
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