Austin Carlson Carlson 1

Mrs. Jiruska

AP Literature

17 September 2015

The Struggling Artist

Faith and art have always been in close proximity. From beautiful stained glass pictures

in churches, to rich tapestries in mosques, and grandly designed structures for holding the Torah

in synagogues, to name a few. While both faith and art reside in close relation, the two forms of

expressionism never mix without drastic consequences. The sacred and simplistic works of art

are welcome in holy places, such as churches, mosques and synagogues. However, the secular

and complex works of art, and their creators, are disregarded and exiled. This rejection of secular

and complex art is most prevalent in orthodox sects of religions. In Chaim Potok’s novel My

Name is Asher Lev, Asher Lev exemplifies the struggle between faith and art and discovers that a

person should become who they wish to become.

Asher Lev’s struggle with his faith and art results in him discovering his true self. After

studying with Jacob Kahn, Asher discovers that he is ashamed of his earlocks. He tucks his

earlocks behind his ears in an attempt to hide them. Asher eventually hides them underneath a

fisherman’s cap, which replaced his old skullcap. Asher decides that, like his skullcap, what he

was ashamed of needed to be removed, and cuts off his earlocks. For Asher’s father, Aryeh, and

his father before him, and for countless generations before Asher was born, earlocks and

skullcaps were worn as an outward show of faith and tradition. Asher’s breaking in tradition

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lets him shed what traits he is ashamed of, and allows him to embrace what makes him proud.

This disruption of Asher’s past helps him grow into his true self.

When Asher sheds his past and embraces art and its lifestyle, he becomes a freer person.

Once Asher begins his lessons with Jacob Kahn and becomes increasingly trained and exposed to

the art world, his terrifying nightmares, which plagued him since he first heard the story of his

mythic ancestor, stop occurring. Art helps releases Asher from his past. Asher is eventually able

to stand up for himself, and defends not only himself, but his art as well. Asher stands up to the

pimple-faced bully by drawing a horrifying scene from Michelangelo’s Last Judgement with all

the faces being replaced with the bully’s face. The bully immediately reacts with a “sudden

stiffening of his shoulders”(Potok 241) and regards Asher as one from the Other Side. Needless

to say he leaves Asher alone. Asher worries less about offending his father and his ancestors

before him, and more on embracing the passion of his art. When Asher cares less about

offending his family the nightmare of the mythic ancestor recedes. Because Asher cares more

about developing his passion he is able to stand up for himself. Asher foregoes his past and

embraces his passions; he become a freer person.

The more Asher became involved in art and less involved with his faith the more his

parents accepted his art. When Asher first discovered his passion he was frightened of offending

his father, and tried to conceal his gift. Asher lost all control of art after that. He stole from

Yudel’s art supply store, received poor grades in school, and drew Stalin in his Gomorrah.

Asher’s inability to control his gift further confuses and angers his father, Aryeh. Once Asher

started lessons with Jacob Kahn, Asher could control his art. Asher starts receiving better grades

in

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school. His mother, Rivkeh, buys him art supplies and supports his passion, so he no longer has

to steal from Yudel. He eventually becomes popular enough to host his own art show. After time,

even Aryeh, who was most adamantly against Asher’s art, attempts to let Asher explain art to

him. Aryeh eventually became so accepting of Asher’s art that he attends one of Asher’s art

shows. Asher’s embracing of art and delving into his gift, allow him to receive his parents

acceptance, and become the person he wants to be, not who he was told to be.

If Asher became a traveling helper for the Reebe like his father, Aryeh, like his father

before him, and his father before him, and so on and so on, Asher would have never made his

family suffer through the long nights of waiting for him to return for Yudel’s art story, his

parents arguing over the museum visits, and the painting of both The Brooklyn Crucifixion I and

The Brooklyn Crucifixion II. The suffering that Asher would have experienced would be

immeasurable compared to his family's suffering. If Asher did not spend his afternoons, and

occasional evenings, with Yudel, then Asher would never understand what his father truly did,

and the impact it had on so many people. If Asher never went to the museums and studied artists

from Michelangelo to monet, he never would felt the connection to other people, like

Michelangelo or Monet, that shared his same gift and passion. Asher’s painting of both The

Brooklyn Crucifixion I and The Brooklyn Crucifixion II helps Aryeh see how much agony and

pain Rivkeh has suffered through, with Aryeh and Asher’s constant battling and Aryeh’s long

trips away from home.

The trials and tributions that Asher undergoes for his art results in Asher becoming a

successful, better and truer person. This exemplifies the main theme of the novel, that a person

should be who they want to and strive to be, and not the person they are told to be. Asher was

told his entire life that he,

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and his ancestors before him were Jews, and that he was to follow their actions and their beliefs.

It is not until Asher throws away his past of Judaism and tradition, and embraces art and

creativity that he becomes who he wants to be. Asher is able to become his true self. He is able to

live a fuller and freer life. He finally receives his parents acceptance of his gift after years of

disapproval and confusion. In the beginning of Asher’s life he is known as ‘The son of Reb

Aryeh Lev’ (68) to the people around his community and those his father has helped. It is not

until the end of the book that Asher is referred to as Asher Lev. No longer overshadowed and

chained by his father and his father's before him, Asher is connected only by birth name, and

nothing else. Asher breaks the endless chain of tradition and faith, and forges his own chain of

art and passion. This chain has only one link, Asher, and he is no longer shackled to his past and

free to forge his own chain.

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Work Cited

Potok, Chaim. My Name Is Asher Lev. New York: Knopf;, 1972. Print.