The Slave | Social Concerns
A major social concern in The Slave is the precarious life that Jews led in seventeenth-century Poland. The Jews periodically endure bloody pogroms incited by Cossacks, including Bohdan Chmielnicki. Singer's protagonist, Jacob, is a slave because his village, Josefbv, has experienced a pogrom, one that has resulted in the death of his wife and two children. After he fortunately escapes with his life, Polish robbers capture him and sell him as a slave to a pagan named Jan Bzik. While working for Bzik, he falls in love with Bzik's daughter, Wanda, and they consummate their love. But...
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