God's grace door Bernard Malamud

General Information

a. God’s Grace
b. Bernard Malamud
c. Amerikaans
d. Eerste druk was in 1982

Summary

The flood
God’s patience was gone. The people destroyed everything that he had made for them. That’s why he made a flood, which would flush the world so nobody would survive.
Calvin Cohn was on the moment of the flood on the bottom of the sea for investigation. He survived. God spoke to him and said that it was a mistake and that Cohn had to be dead to. But God gave Cohn the opportunity to get used to the idea. Cohn lived some days on the boat Rebecca Q; the boat where he was on for investigation. After a couple of days, Cohn found a chimpanzee on the boat. This chimp was used by Dr. Bünder for investigation. Dr. Bünder tried to learn the chimp how to speak. The chimpanzee and they became close. There was almost no drinking water and food anymore. And the ship was sinking. Then Cohn saw an island, he and the chimp took some stuff and went to the island.

Cohn’s Island

The first night on the island, Cohn spent in a tree, even though there were no animals to be afraid of. He found all kinds of dead animals, but no humans.
The next morning Cohn discovered several caves. Cohn built walls so he had rooms. After he also built a hut he lay down and asked himself if this was life.
After a week Cohn became very ill. When Cohn slept he felt someone holding his head up and feeding him. He tried to touch this person but the person disappeared.
Cohn even got in a coma; but when he woke up someone had taken him outside. Cohn felt better. He even saw the young chimp Buz back. Cohn noticed that Buz also had been ill.
Buz and Cohn went with a raft to the old boat. They took all kind of things with them. A week later, they returned to the boat. But it was gone.
Cohn and Buz decided to raft around the island. It took them two weeks. They found bones of animals and Cohn thought he even saw a drowned village.
Buz and Cohn had enough to eat; there was plenty of fruit on the island the only fruit that they didn’t have was lemons. Cohn thought they would have enough food as long as God was in a good mood. Cohn made everyday useful things.
Cohn learned the sign-language that Dr. Bünder once taught Buz. They could communicate now. Cohn said he felt lonely but Buz didn’t react to that. Cohn found out that Buz was a Christian, Cohn was Jewish. Cohn spoke a lot to Buz so Buz could learn how to speak to.
Cohn told Buz something about himself. After that he asked Buz something about Buz’s life, but he got no answer.
The days after Buz became very nervous. One night Cohn understood why; he saw a huge gorilla. But the gorilla did them nothing. Cohn was afraid the next morning. He saw that the gorilla was sad. Then he realised that the Gorilla must have fed him when he was ill. So he named the gorilla George, after a noble man.
On an early morning, Cohn and Buz played together. Suddenly Buz could speak. Buz was very happy with it and Cohn was very excited. Buz tells him that Cohn probably can communicate with other animals now.
Cohn and Buz studied the dictionary, so Buz would learn more words. They talked about who invented language.
Cohn wanted Contact with George, the gorilla. He tried to invite him to dinner but George didn’t understand. Buz was always throwing things at George when he came close to the cave. He was afraid of George and he wanted all the attention of Cohn.
At an afternoon, Cohn returned to the cave and saw that one of his father’s records was missing; George had taken it. Cohn shouted at George and George ran away.
The next day, Buz and Cohn went exploring the island again. When they came to the other side, they found some shit of an animal. Cohn didn’t think it was George’s so they became afraid. They went back to the other side of the island.

The schooltree

Cohn wanted contact with God. He tried but nothing happened. He threw a coconut in the sky. Suddenly he heard a huge bang. Cohn was afraid so he went to his cave. At the end of the day, Cohn came out and he saw a message from God, written in the sky. It said that he shouldn’t ask for God’s attention.
The next day Buz and Cohn went to see some bugs. Suddenly they saw a cave and went in. At the end of the cave was an opening and they saw a beautiful beach.
When Cohn looked into the forest he saw 5 chimps. One female, two young ones and two males. Cohn tried to contact them but it didn’t work. Buz though, got contact. Cohn wanted contact so they could discuss food issues. So he searched for the apes and told them about the food. But the apes didn’t respond.
Buz spent a lot of time with the new chimps. He liked the female. He even taught the new apes how to speak.
Cohn planned a dinner for all the apes on the island. Only George wasn’t there. At dinner Buz asked each of the new apes four questions, so Buz and Cohn would know how they survived the flood. At the end of the evening George came in. The chimps were afraid and even ran away. Cohn said he forgave George for making a mess.
Cohn went to the forest to see the albino chimp that he and Buz saw in there dreams. When he was in the forest an angel started to talk to him. She told him that there were no other humans anymore, only Cohn. Cohn was afraid, he had to look out with what he said or even thought.
To please God, Cohn wanted to educate the chimps, six days a week. Sometimes also George came to listen. He told them why he thought God hadn’t made human perfect. Then they saw a huge light. God asked why Cohn contended with Him. God also said that he created man.
Then it started to rain lemon juice. The ground was covered with lemons.

The Virgin in the Trees

The next morning Cohn and the chimps discovered 3 new chimps. They didn’t know where they came from. Cohn started to make pottery and made medicines of herbs.
The female chimp, Mary Madelyn is wanted by all of the male chimps, but she didn’t want them. She wanted Cohn, so one night she came to his cave but left when Cohn said it was impossible for them to have a relation. The next morning Esau, a quite aggressive male chimp, came to the cave and was very angry at Cohn. But he left for a few months.
Buz told Cohn that he had seen the albino chimp again and that Cohn should stay away from him. But the next night the albino chimp appeared in Cohn’s cave and they fought. The albino chimp took Cohn up into a tree. Cohn thought that the albino was a messenger of God that would kill him. Then George appeared. The albino lost his grip and he dropped Cohn.
Cohn and Madelyn spent a lot of time together, Buz was jealous in the beginning. Cohn admitted that he felt affection for Madelyn but they couldn’t have sex.
A few days later Cohn gave some lectures to Melchior, Hattie (the two old chimps) and George. He told them that chimps may become a superior sort. Later when he thought back about it he thought about how a child of him and Mary Madelyn would be. He also had his doubts. Though they had sex that night. He thought that their child would be the superior sort.
The next morning Esau came back. He had a toothache, Cohn helped him and Esau decided to do something for the common Cohn made seven Admonitions for the living on the island. Everyone was happy. Mary Madelyn was in her second month of pregnancy.

The voice of the Prophet

Mary Madelyn gave birth to a daughter they called her Rebekah Islanda. Cohn was very proud of his daughter.
There were new apes, baboons, on the island. One of them was a little girl named Sara. One day she felt a sleep. Esau took her and killed her. He and some other male chimps ate her. When Cohn heard of this he was very angry and disappointed.
Cohn spoke to the chimps about the murder. Esau said that it was a natural thing for chimps to kill small baboons. Cohn made them swore that they would never kill a little baboon again.
But they immediately chased Pat, another small baboon. After a while Esau grabbed him and killed him. Cohn said to them that they had to leave to the other side of the island. Esau got very mad and wanted to kill Cohn. But Mary Madelyn hit Esau with a hammer.
The next morning the chimps left. After a few days four chimps came back, begging Cohn if they could come back. He let them. But not Esau.
George disappeared. On a day Buz came to Cohn’s cave for a candy bar. He got it but Eau and his friends got in the cave to. They took Rebekah Cohn and Mary begged them to give Rebekah back. But the chimps threw Rebekah to each other. When it was night, one of the chimps dropped her. Two males grabbed her and killed her.
Cohn was very angry at Buz; he betrayed him so he took away Buz’s speech. The last thing Buz said was that his real name was Gottlob.
The next day he realised that all the chimps came to Cohn’s cave and broke everything Cohn had. Than they bound him and laughed at him.

God’s Mercy

They took him into another cave with an altar. They wanted to burn Cohn but Buz, first wanted to make a small cut in Cohn’s neck. Cohn begged for mercy. George appeared and began a long Kaddish for Cohn.
It’s made clear that although Cohn wanted to become the new prophet he didn’t “got the job”. But George did. With what George said you can conclude that George is Jewish, just like Cohn.

Title

The title of the book is God’s Grace.
God’s Grace means God’s genade (een gunst). In the beginning of the book God wants to kill everybody. He made a flood. But by accident, Calvin Cohn stayed alive. He asked God if he could live but God said to him that he could get used to the idea of being dead soon. Cohn got on an island and stayed there until he was old. God had let him live his life. You could see that as a favour; God’s grace.
At the end of the book, Cohn is very alone because the chimps left him. In the final scene Cohn is being tortured by the chimps. Life wasn’t good anymore for Cohn. If Cohn died it wouldn’t be bad for him so you could also see that as God’s Grace.

Setting

a. In the first chapter the story is situated in a boat, the Rebecca Q. That’s the boat Cohn and his colleagues used for their investigation. Later they find an island and from that moment the story is situated on that island (Cohn’s Island).
b. It’s not easy to tell when this story take place. It could happen any time. But I think that it must have been in the 20th century because the people are so interested in nature and science. They do experiments with animals and I think that that is something of the last years.
c. The book is chronological.

Characters

Calvin Cohn
Calvin Cohn is the main character and the only human being who survived the flood. He can live his life on a beautiful island. Calvin Cohn is Jewish and although he used to not care a lot about it he does now. He listens to his fathers records. He thinks he is a new prophet, so he sees it as his job to create a new sort. He educated the chimps so they would become more human; that would be the perfect combination. He sees himself as the father of the new “generation” chimps.

Buz
Buz is the chimp that also survived the flood. He became very close with Cohn. He saw Cohn as his dad. But when Cohn and Mary Madelyn got a relation together, he became very jealous. He even betrayed Cohn at the end.

Mary Madelyn
Mary Madelyn is first the only female chimp on the island. She got a relation with Cohn and the male chimps didn’t appreciate that. Mary Madelyn wanted to become human, and she was quite romantic. She had Cohn’s baby.

Esau
Esau was a male chimp. He is very aggressive and saw himself as the leader of the group. He had a lot of fights with Cohn.

Theme

I think the theme is about relations and community when you have to depend on your own. The book is all about Cohn, the only left human on an island. He will have to depend on his own and he tried to communicate with other animals, he tried to get a friendship relation with them. So that they would form a good working community. The book is about how Cohn does that and how these relations work and not work.

My Opinion

I’d liked the book as a whole. I thought it was very fascinating how Cohn saw the opportunities to stay alive. And how he made the community on the island work. If I was the only living human on earth with some chimps around me I probably didn’t want to live anymore, I would be to lonely. So I think Cohn is a very strong character.
Some parts of the book though, were not so easy. In that parts, Cohn told the reader about how he thought about God, and why he thought God would do something the way he did it. Those parts are a bit hard to read and it’s hard to understand what Cohn means. It’s a bit philosophical, and in English that’s hard to understand for me.
I don’t think I’ve learnt something of the book accept reading English books better. I’ve spent about 8 hours on reading this book.