Why does Grossbart rub it in that Marx has been had? Because Grossbart doesn't need Marx anymore - he's found another source to get his orders changed from the Pacific, so Grossbart smugly flaunts the fact that he has used Marx he wants to make sure Marx knows it, too. Why does Grossbart fling it in his face, so to speak?
He continues to push Marx until the turning point when, after Marx allows Grossbart, Fishbein, and Halpern to go off base for a supposed seder, they return bringing Marx not matzo, as he had requested, but eggroll, something that is as non-kosher as food can get. He isn't bothered by non-kosher food he just wants to manipulate the system. He wants to attend shul to get out of work. Why doesn't the mess hall serve kosher food? Yet, Marx realizes quickly that Grossbart is no serious Jew. Why don't Jews get to worship on their Sabbath? And what makes it difficult for Marx is that Grossbart raises worthwhile questions that the army, at that time, never considered. Marx has scarcely had time to stow his gear before Grossbart is before him, insinuating himself, as a fellow Jew, and trying to get special consideration and privilege. This internal conflict runs apace with the external conflict Marx has with Grossbart almost from the moment he steps foot on base. Yet as the story progresses, Roth allows us glimpses into Marx's recovery: the parade ground at dusk evokes childhood memories that reach deep into his heart to touch him later, he begins to send for law school catalogs and to write old girlfriends. This is why Grossbart finds it relatively easy, at first, to manipulate Marx: Marx is vulnerable and off-balance. Thus, he is a prime target for Grossbart. Now, he has a heightened since of his heritage and beliefs. One senses that prior to the war, Marx took his Judaism and his ethnicity for granted. Having witnessed atrocities never believed possible in human history, Marx is keenly aware of his Jewishness as he's never been before. It is this slow recovery from his war experiences that makes him vulnerable to Grossbart's manipulation and machinations. Yet, he is an intelligent, introspective man who is aware that this state of mind, while understandable, is not normal, and during the course of the story, his heart slowly begins to warm-up, to soften. 'I had been fortunate enough,' he says in the first paragraph, 'to have grown an infantryman's heart,' which 'finally grows horny enough for him to travel the weirdest paths without feeling a thing.' As anyone who is confronted on a prolonged, daily basis with misery, violence, tragedy, and death, Marx has had to harden his heart to the point where he could not feel the pain he perpetually witnessed during the war. The reader is informed immediately of the first conflict taking place within Marx. Marx must decide which he will be first: a good sergeant, or a good Jew, or a good human being. Both conflicts are closely intertwined, as Roth explores the struggle one man undergoes to discover which values outweigh others. The other story is Marx's conflict with Grossbart. Notes: Defender of the Faith Notes: 'Defender of the Faith' by Philip Roth There are actually two stories going on at the same time in 'Defender of the Faith.' One is the story of Marx's recovery from his war experiences. The Defender of the Faith Summary Philip Roth. Complete summary of Philip Roth's The Defender of the Faith.
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