Journal #8
General
Throughout the whole novel, Asher decides to paint and go against his religion, but the unusual part about this is that he still continues to practice the religion. It seems as though he is on both sides of this, where he doesn't know whether to be a part of the Orthodox Jews or to go to another religion. There are many things that he does on both sides of the religion ideas.
There are many examples of this behavior, but the one that is most unusual is done when he is actually painting. He continues to wear the sacred clothing as he is painting. No matter what it is that he is doing, he still wears these clothes. It seems as though he just wants the religion to accept what he is doing without any kind of penalty. He has not gone to a rabbi to talk about his behavior, he has not asked for forgiveness, so why should he be able to do such a thing.
Another thing that he does is go to the synagogue on a regular basis. He continues to celebrate the holidays with his mother and doesn't seem like he has any problem with it. If he is not going to go by the rules of the religion then he should go somewhere where he can be accepted.
Asher is getting away with a lot of things that he is doing. He doesn't think that he is doing anything wrong, so he may not think he has to do anything about it. It just seems a little peculiar that he would continue to wear the clothing and practice the religion, but he is going deliberately against the beliefs of the entire religion.