A Contract with God - Will Eisner

     This story felt incredibly pitiful to read due to the nature of the character change brought on by the grief of the main character, Frimme Hersche. I'm not religious myself, but I understand the feeling of betrayal that Hersche felt, at least to an extent. I haven't had a loved one die because of a betrayal, but it's definitely harsh to deal with. To have the source of this pain come from God, someone who is all might and would have no reason to go through such an effort, must feel incredibly terrible -- like he went out of his way to make it happen. I almost felt like I was the one who got betrayed just reading the story -- which was great, from the perspective of a viewer, because I was able to relate, to an extent, on the misery that Frimme was feeling.

     Then, Frimme became an entirely new man -- a man who acted selfishly and without remorse for his actions. Witnessing him put on this new face, literally (he shaved his mighty beard) and figuratively, I felt like I lost the connection that was established between him and me. The rise in billing, the lies told -- all to create a new, more valid contract with God and be struck down because of the process it took to get him to this goal. Once, I read "Humans are incredibly selfish, aren't they? We only cry when someone dies because we will miss the things they did for us and how they made us feel." Now, I know this is blasted out, but there are a few aspects that I agree with, to a small extent. Although, in reality, we develop care for others and will act selflessly for the people we love, there is a portion of us that feels sorrow because they did the same for us -- they gave back to us. Imagine acting out for someone else and not receiving the same treatment -- I'd be willing to bet that after time and time again of this kindness being abused or ignored, it will die down and if, God forbid, this person dies, you (someone in general) wouldn't feel as bad, relative to if the kindness had been returned. I believe this to be some sort form of greed -- not in a terrible sense, because I think that it should be expected for people to treat each other with genuine kindness, especially to those acting in this way towards them.

     This aspect of greed, though, I believe, is what the story was about. Frimme lost his adopted daughter. Betrayed, he went against the common word of God, "doing things that were previously unspeakable," all to create a new contract with God because of what happened to him. Frimme acted selfishly in order to achieve a selfish goal and was smitten. This, at least, is how I analyzed my feeling of pity towards this man -- a man who lost the only person he had and ultimately died himself because of how he reacted to it.