FREE WRITE 2

In Asher Lev the maturation of Asher is very well detailed. What is even more detailed is his need for rebellion. Unlike other children he never really wants to fit in and go with the crowd. This is because he has a deep hatred for the norm as his father taught him and also because he knows his gift will forever separate him from the masses. Early on in Asher’s life his father stresses to him how important it will be for him to outgrow his childish habits and become an adult so that he can follow in the steps set out before him. Asher is told he will travel for the Rebbe so he had better become a better student. However Asher did not want to outgrow what his fathers saw as childish. This is because he could not outgrow, but more or less grow in the role the master of the universe had set before him. Asher was meant to be an artist anyway you looked at it. He tried to deny this for his father’s sake, but simply could not do it. He was not being the traveler and civil servant his father was. The ruggedness of his father and of the hasidic religion conflicted with the free sprit Asher had been given. Asher did not want to become like his father anyway. He did not want to leave his street and what he was comfortable. Although he did outgrow this attachment it was already late into his adulthood. At school Asher never got along with his classmates. He was an outcast to say the least. The gift that the Rebbe recognized in him had made him the whipping boy of his class. He would suffer persecution because of his talent much like his people were persecuted. He never understood why they had such a problem with him because it was not his fault that he had this unsatisfiable need to draw masterpieces. Only way of lashing back at these children was to use his gift, and frighten the kids with drawings he made of them. The final climax of his rebellion was in his final two paintings. He used the most vicious things he could portray to lash out at the system, which had condemned him all these years. He knew his father hatred for Christ and specifically the symbolism of the crucifixion Aslo his father had a strong hate for the use of family issues outaide of the home. When Asher showed virtually the whole world the problems that had hindered his family with travel his father could have burst. Asher new his rebellion would hurt him, but I believe that is what he wanted. To escape the system that had condemned him he had to condemn the system. When the Rebbe asked him to leave the Brooklyn community, Asher achieved his goal, escape from his religion and gained total freedom for himself.