Malamud at Oregon State: A Digital Humanities Project

Minor Characters

Throughout the novel, Levin often uses information as a means to navigate the complex faculty politics at Cascadia and the even murkier waters of his affair with Pauline. While analyzing the interactions he has with Gilley and Pauline is useful in understanding the rising tension in the novel, examining Levin's interactions with more minor characters reveals the methods Levin employs to advance his own ideas for Humanities Hall as well as apprehend the implications of his affair with Pauline. From his arrival at Cascadia College, Levin connects himself with the mysterious figure of Leo Duffy and his fixation on learning the particular's of Duffy's fate first stem from a desire to avoid the same unfortunate fate, but becomes increasingly complex as Levin learns more information about Duffy's dismissal and subsequent court case. As such, the following character interactions mostly involve moments where Levin learns information about Duffy, either by direct inquiry as in the case of Fabrikant or accidental discovery as in the case of Avis, that changes his understanding of Cascadia College and Pauline. Another important theme in the novel is the increasing struggle between Levin and Gilley; this is touched on in the first moment with Bucket where Levin inquires about the upcoming election for Dr. Fairchild's position and Gilley's political affiliation. Due to the limitations (link limitations page) of this project, we were only able to include one moment for three of the important minor characters in the novel: the first inquiry Levin makes to Bucket about Gilley's political affiliation, Avis' confession to Levin that Pauline and Duffy were having an affair, and Levin's confrontation with Fabrikant about the reason Fabrikant stopped defending Duffy. Ultimately, we found  that the biggest divergence the published version took from the manuscript was in the tone of the exchanges, especially in terms of how much information a character was willing to share. The moments are laid out chronologically and then grouped by character.   

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