Original Article
ISSN (Online): 2582-7472
ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts
January-June 2022 3(1), 498–506
How to cite this article (APA): Parmar, S., and Sood, R. (2022). Comedy of Ideas: Study of Ozick’s Bloodshed and Three Novellas.
ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 3(1), 498–506. doi: 10.29121/shodhkosh.v3.i1.2022.91
498
COMEDY OF IDEAS: STUDY OF OZICK’S BLOODSHED AND THREE NOVELLAS
Shipra Parmar
1
, Dr. Reetika Sood
2
1
Research Scholar of English, Maharaja Agrasen University, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Baddi, Solan Pin code 174103,
India
2
Associate Professor, Department of English, Maharaja Agrasen University, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Baddi, Solan Pin
code 174103, India
ABSTRACT
Cynthia Ozick is an emphatic voice of new Jewish American novels who reveals various
issues that a Jew has to face while living in mainstream American culture. She advocates
ethnicity and chooses the comic mode to reveal the truth. Charles Krauthammer's works
try to define the issue of being Jewish in today's American society via his novels, short
stories, and essays. Ozick uncovered a plethora of previously unexplored area by delving
deep into Judaism's most ancient religious texts. The present paper aims at the in-depth
study of the second collection of short stories "Bloodshed and three Novellas'. In these
stories Ozick which focuses on the betrayal of tradition by Jews. She brings out the
hilarious situations and ideas by focusing on various flaws and blemishes in the
personalities of her characters. She also mocks at their defective physical appearances.
In fact, the comic elements in her fiction have a much higher purpose than only evoking
laughter. The present paper also attempts to study how Ozick's comedy is a mirror of
human reality and focuses on humanity. The present paper is an endeavor to show how
Ozick's comedy has a fair share of flippancy, folly, and jest and how it manifests itself in
forms like irony, satire, grotesque, and farce.
Received 10 February 2022
Accepted 15 June 2022
Published 27 June 2022
Corresponding Author
Mrs. Shipra Parmar,
samarresearchworks@gmail.com
DOI
10.29121/shodhkosh.v3.i1.2022.91
Funding: This research received no
specific grant from any funding agency in
the public, commercial, or not-for-profit
sectors.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s).
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0
International License.
With the license CC-BY, authors retain
the copyright, allowing anyone to
download, reuse, re-print, modify,
distribute, and/or copy their
contribution. The work must be
properly attributed to its author.
Keywords: Satire, Culture, Ideas, Judaism, Irony, Tradition, Ozick, Comedy
1. INTRODUCTION
The second Collection of Ozick,” Bloodshed and three Novellas is about
traditional Jewish dialectic: magic and reality. The characters in this collection of
stories are either on margins of Judaism or have shown themselves of their rich
Judaic heritage. Ozick depicts the implications of cultural rootlessness and the
consequences of repudiating the traditional values in this collection. The novellas in
this connection are paired. They afford contrasting views and illumine disparate
perspectives. Ozick meditates on tradition in the novellas and talks about the
betrayal of mosaic ideas by Jews. She feels that the loss of cultural integrity and