The Fixer

Based on a true story, The Fixer (1966) by Bernard Malamud (1914-1986) centers around a man's imprisonment and torture in a Russian prison for a crime he didn't commit. Jewish immigrant Yakov Bok is the victim of a wave of anti-Semitism sweeping through Tsarist Russia in the early 20th century. He is arrested for the murder of a Christian child, despite there being no evidence linking him to the crime. He is beaten, poisoned, and verbally abused for two years in a Russian prison while he waits for a trial to determine his fate. Exploring themes like prejudice and society's complicity in injustice, The Fixer won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.

The Fixer Book Summary

At the outset of the novel, Yakov Bok, a Jewish man living in Tsarist Russia, learns a Christian boy has recently been found murdered in a cave. The police don't know who killed Zhenia Golov, but anti-Semitism runs rampant in the city, making Jews prime suspects. Yakov is nervous he will soon be persecuted, and his fears worsen because he lives in an area where Jews are prohibited.

The novel flashes back five months in the past. Yakov's wife has recently left him, and there are few opportunities for work in his poverty-stricken village. He decides to leave for Kiev and hitches a ride with an anti-Semitic boatman. Yakov moves into the Podol, a decrepit Jewish section of town. He struggles to find work until one day he saves a drunken man from freezing to death in the snow. As thanks, Nikolai Maximovitch Lebedev offers Yakov work repairing one of the buildings he owns. Yakov is hesitant because Jewish people aren't technically allowed to live there, but he is desperate for money, so he agrees.

Fig. 1 Yakov battles anti-Semitic policies and attitudes as soon as he arrives in Kiev.

After Yakov finishes fixing up the apartment, Lebedev offers him a full-time job overseeing a brickyard. Lebedev also offers him an apartment if he takes the job. Yakov knows Jews aren't allowed to live in the area, so he lies about his last name and takes the job. Without any papers, Yakov is extremely cautious. Still, he chases two boys out of the brickyard when they trespass. Yakov is terrified to learn one of the boys is murdered just a couple of days later. The police suspect a Jew committed the crime, and a rush of anti-Semitism overtakes the entire city.

Yakov makes plans to leave, but he is arrested before he can escape. He confesses to being a Jew but pleads his innocence. He is taken to a jail cell, where he meets Magistrate Bibikov, who is leading the investigation. Bibikov sympathizes with Yakov and tries to help prove his innocence of the murder.

Meanwhile, Lebedev and his daughter turn on Yakov. In prison, Yakov is beaten by other prisoners and his guards. He is forced to go to the cave where Zhenia was killed, meet Zhenia's mother, and give fingerprints, a hair sample, and a writing sample. Although no evidence links him to the murder, he is constantly urged to confess. Yakov is given poisoned food and develops sores. He starts reading the Bible, which appalls the guards. He gets ill and dreams he confesses in his delirium.

Fig. 2 Yakov spends two years in jail, awaiting a trial for a crime he didn't commit.

Yakov is not allowed any visitors, but his father-in-law, Shmuel, eventually bribes a guard to let him speak to Yakov. Shmuel implores Yakov to read the Torah, and Yakov tells Shmuel to share his story with newspapers and Jewish leaders. When the warden finds out about the visit, he has Yakov's guard arrested and replaces him with a crueler one. When Bibikov comes to visit Yakov, he, too, is arrested. The police exaggerate his involvement with Yakov and have Bibikov thrown in solitary confinement, where Bibikov experiences a mental collapse and commits suicide.

Yakov's estranged wife, Raisl, visits him in jail. His jailers have coerced her to pressure him into a confession. Yakov is cold to her and refuses to confess. Raisl reveals she has given birth to her lover's child. Yakov forgives her and agrees to serve as the baby's father so that Raisl can remain in good standing with the Jewish community.

Fig. 3 Yakov takes responsibility for his estranged wife's child.

For months, the authorities try to get Yakov to confess to the crime. They threaten, bribe, and lie to him, but he refuses to relent. The police officers warn him that people will want him dead even if he is innocent. Yakov finally meets with a lawyer named Ostrovsky, who tells him Shmuel is dead and new evidence has put more pressure on Zhenia's mother. Ostrovsky is sympathetic to Yakov but realizes the deep prejudice in Russian politics and culture will influence Yakov's trial.

Yakov is finally granted a trial but told he will likely be found guilty anyway. On the way to the trial, he imagines a conversation with Russia's former ruler, Tsar Nicholas II, in which he admonishes the tsar for the current state of Russia. He realizes no one, especially if they are a Jew, can afford to be apolitical in current Russian society.

The Fixer Characters

The novel primarily centers around Yakov Bok, who is arrested and brutalized without any evidence in the murder case of Zhenia Golov. Over the course of the novel, Yakov encounters sympathizers (like Magistrate Bibikov and Shmuel), but he meets far more people whose prejudice makes them blindly hate him (like Nikolai Maximovitch Lebedev).

Yakov Bok

An undocumented Jewish immigrant living in Tsarist Kiev, Yakov Bok makes a living for himself doing odd jobs. He is wrongfully persecuted following the murder of a Christian boy, predominantly due to the anti-Semitism running rampant throughout the Russian Empire. He is held in jail for two years before he is given a trial. All the while, he is beaten and tortured while being told to confess. Yakov realizes he symbolizes Jewish resistance and perseverance against their oppressors.

Magistrate Bibikov

A prominent investigator, Magistrate Bibikov sympathizes with Yakov and tries to help his case. With prejudice and hysteria surrounding the case mounting, Bibikov is arrested for visiting Yakov and thrown in solitary confinement, where he commits suicide.

Shmuel

Yakov's beloved father-in-law, Shmuel supports Yakov even after he and his wife separate. Shmuel pays a guard so Yakov can see his family in jail.

Raisl

Yakov's unfaithful and manipulative wife, Raisl visits Yakov in jail. The authorities pressure her to get a confession out of him. Despite her infidelity and deception, Yakov agrees to act as though Raisl's illegitimate baby is his own to protect her.

Ostrovsky

Yakov's lawyer, Ostrovsky is sympathetic to Yakov's cause, but Ostrovsky realizes the odds aren't in Yakov's favor due to immense prejudice against Jews.

Zhenia Golov

A Christian child, Zhenia Golov's murder lands Yakov in jail. Zhenia is dead for most of the novel, but people invoke his memory when justifying their brutality towards Yakov.

Nikolai Maximovitch Lebedev

Saved by Yakov at the novel's onset, Nikolai Maximovitch Lebedev initially treats Yakov with kindness, getting him work and a place to live. However, after Lebedev realizes Yakov is Jewish, he turns against him.

The Fixer Analysis

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud is based on the real-life trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis. Beilis was a Russian Jew born in Kiev in 1874. In an infamous 1913 trial, Beilis was accused of murdering a 13-year-old boy. Without any evidence, the case was built largely on anti-Semitic prejudice spreading across the Russian Empire. Beilis spent two years in prison before finally getting a trial (in which he was acquitted).

For all their similarities, The Fixer largely differs from actual history in this ending. Both Beilis and Yakov are outsiders, forever doomed because their Jewish identity making it impossible to fit into the dominant culture. While Beilis was deemed innocent, Yakov knows a guilty verdict is likely. His freedom comes from knowing he is now a symbol of Jewish resistance and innocence. Even if his life is forfeit, what he means to the Jewish people lives on.

Fig. 4 Beili and Yakov are both assumed guilty before even being given a trial.

The novel and Beilis's reality are also noteworthy for how members of the dominant culture who speak out against the status quo are persecuted. Despite his elevated position, Bibikov is persecuted just for associating with Yakov. In real life, Nikolay Krasovsky was a prominent member of the Kiev Police Department and was put in charge of investigating Beilis's case. Krasovsky was fired for refusing to falsify information against Beilis. He and other police officers eventually determined the actual murderers, but they were still ostracized and criticized by Russian authorities for being sympathetic toward Beilis.

Beilis and Yakov's stories show that neither outsiders nor people who fit into the dominant culture are safe when they stand out from the status quo. The mob mentality that drives both murder cases positions anyone who doesn't conform as an enemy that must be eradicated.

The Fixer Themes

The main themes in The Fixer are pervasive prejudice and complicity in wide-scale injustice.

Pervasive Prejudice

Anti-Semitism has been deeply embedded in European culture since the rise of Christianity as early as the first century. The more Christianity asserted itself in the dominant culture, the more prejudice against Jewish peoples spread. Today, anti-Semitism is irrevocably connected to the Holocaust genocide, in which the Nazi party persecuted Jews and their sympathizers. Scholars estimate about six million European Jews were murdered.

Anti-Semitism in Kiev is a major source of oppression in The Fixer. From the boatman who condemns Jews to Yakov's face to the policies that keep Yakov and other Jews from living in certain areas, prejudice runs rampant throughout the story. The prejudice only worsens when the death of a Christian child is turned into a social issue, in which the authorities insistently try to pin the crime on a Jew. Virulent prejudice spreads until the authorities care more about forcing a confession out of Yakov than they do justice.

Complicity in Wide-Scale Injustice

Going hand-in-hand with prejudice is society's complicity in injustice. While ordinary citizens might not be the ones physically beating Yakov and other Jews, they allow these injustices to take place despite knowing how wrong they are. The police and ordinary citizens alike turn on the Jewish population, using Yakov as a scapegoat.

Anyone who tries to stand up for Yakov (and, in association, Jews) is ostracized by society and harshly punished. Bibikov is thrown in jail for visiting Yakov. Yakov's guard is arrested for allowing Yakov to see his family. And even Nikolai Maximovitch Lebedev lies about his relationship with Yakov so that he doesn't seem like a sympathizer. In their society, where injustice is inherent in everyday life, everyone is either complicit in it or punished for going against the status quo.

The Fixer Quotes

Below are some of the major quotes from the novel.

This exchange happens the first time Bibikov and Yakov meet. After finding a book by a Jewish philosopher in Yakov's house, Bibikov asks Yakov about his social beliefs and philosophy on life. Yakov carefully navigates the situation, telling Bibikov that the only philosophy he has is based on his own personal experience. All his experiences have taught him thus far is that life could be much better if there was more work, jobs, and goodwill between all men. Even this seemingly obvious statement could be viewed as derogatory and out of line for a Jew in Yakov's society.

In this quote, Bibikov reflects on society's lack of social progress. Although modern humans consider themselves civilized, as Bibikov points out, society's wide-scale prejudice belies its true primitive nature. Bibikov continues that this doesn't mean all hope is lost. He believes individuals should fight for justice, but he is skeptical if society is actually ready for true social progress.