Book Of Job And J.B. example essay topic

Suffering is a major concept present in the stories of J.B., "The Book of Job", and "A Masque of Reason". J.B. and "A Masque of Reason" are based on the original biblical tale of Job, a righteous man who is made to suffer by God. However, "The Book of Job" and these two modern interpretations by MacLeish and Frost, use the original story but take very different twists and viewpoints in their development and focus on the concept of suffering. The characters of Job and J.B. are similar in that they both have not experienced the pain, loss, and sadness, which comprises suffering, while the Job of "A Masque of Reason" is a Job after his painful experience and restoration by God. Frost named his post-suffering scene "Chapter Forty-Three of The Book of Job". J. B is introduced to us as "a vigorous man in his middle to late thirties", whom is obviously enjoying a luxurious life-style as set forth in the description of the "maids parade" bringing in fine china, and large amounts of food for a Thanksgiving Day feast. Likewise, Job was also a man of wealth in his community because God had "put a hedge about him and his house... [and] blessed the works of his hands". When both J.B. and Job's blessings were taken away they did not understand the vital "Why?" to their suffering because they were not aware of the dialogue between God and Satan (or in J.B. Mr. Zuss and Nickles).

In J.B., Mr. Zuss expressed that "there's always someone playing Job". This brings together the idea that the suffering of these characters is one is often witnessed and thus allows the audience or reader to relate to the suffering of the main characters. When then height of Job's and J.B.'s suffering is reached, each react differently to what is claimed to be punishment by God. In J.B. suffering is taken as the focus of the story; nearly 8 scenes are about the suffering of J.B. This differs largely with "The Book of Job" where we see Job and friends give a series of soliloquies to prove whether Job was guilty and deserving of his punishment or innocent and that God was acting without justice. These speeches take up 34 chapters of Job, not including the ending chapters where God too has his own speech to end the story. Job's suffering was secondary to his innocence and the importance of faith.

On the other hand, J.B. practically accepts his suffering without question, and even manages to stay strong through Bildad's, Zophar's, and Eliphaz's arguments that he is innocent, and not guilty, that guilt is merely psychological, and not deserving of punishment. J.B.'s lack of questions sets it apart from "The Book of Job" as well as "A Masque of Reason". Even after the events in the original story of Job, Frost sought to give Job a real answer from God about his punishment. "A Masque... ". claims that all of Job's suffering was done for God's own benefit so that he could act freely with his human creations without having to give reason for suffering, thus making Job the "Emancipator of God."Masque" looks at Job's suffering in retrospect instead of as an active part of the story, thus suffering also takes a secondary level of importance, as knowledge and understanding rise to the foreground. The ending of each of these stories share unique characteristics in relation to the main character's suffering.

"The Book of Job" and J.B. both end with God restoring the main characters after all of their affliction, but the "happily ever after ending" is almost interrupted in J.B. by Nickles, whose character is supposed to represent that of Satan. He confronts J.B. expressing concern because Nickles saw that life is what J.B. wanted the least and that that was all that God was going to give him. Nickles intervenes trying to get Job to refuse being "borne twice over". Yet, like Job, J.B. received a new and better life, but instead of taking a stand for stronger faith after his pain, J.B. took love as his new religion. The character of Satan was also brought back in "A Masque of Reason" but his role was much less dramatic, as Job's wife clung for Satan to stay Job was content in finally having an answer from God for his suffering, even if God's reason made him flawed and human like.

Therefore Job did not need Satan's involvement, nor did Satan try to deter Job from staying with God. These three works: J.B., "The Book of Job", and "A Masque of Reason" take similar points and exercise them differently, as each author writes for a different purpose. The author of Job wrote to pass down a story of faith and the power of God, while the two modern interpretations do not try to recreate this classic piece of wisdom literature, but use the points brought up in "The Book of Job" to express their own viewpoints on philosophy and religion. Each of these writings take a universal question, "Why does man suffer?" and attempt to shed light of the subject of suffering although the fact remains that no man can give a truly accurate account for this phenomenon of life.