Kelly is an instructor of creative writing and drama at Oakton Community College. In the following essay, he examines how the aspects of identity and responsibility inherent in parenthood are implied throughout The Fixer.

"Permit me to ask, Yakov Shepsovitch, are you a father'"

"With all my heart."

"Then you can imagine our anguish," sighed the sad-eyed Tsar

This exchange, coming at the end of Bernard Malamud's most harrowing novel, The Fixer, represents a staple in the articles of faith followed by fiction writers: that the truth one feels is more significant than the sum total of what has gone on in life. Yakov Bok is charged with the mutilation of a twelve-year-old boy, a charge that the Tsar's government hopes will create social unrest between Christians and Jews and distract them all from the government's near collapse In actuality, Bok has no children. Nor does he...