Gimpel the Fool | Style

Gimpel the Fool Style

"Gimpel the Fool" centers on Gimpel, a baker in the village of Frampol. Although he has been heckled and deceived by his fellow villagers since he was a child, he retains his faith in the goodness of others and in life itself.

Setting

"Gimpel the Fool" is set in an indeterminate time in the fictional Jewish shtetl, or village, of Frampol in Poland. Like many of the settings in Singer's fiction, the shtetl of Frampol is presented as a place where life has a mystical quality, the people are superstitious, survival is difficult, and everyday events and concerns revolve around Jewish faith and traditions. The town of Frampol does exist in real life Poland today. The town was founded in 1705, with a unique, highly symmetric layout of streets in the shape of concentric rectangles around a large central square. In 1869 it lost its official status as a town,...
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