Nina Balatka | Page 4

those who think most of the faith of a Christian. The
most deadly enemies of the Roman Catholics are they who love best
their religion as Protestants. When we look to individuals we always
find it so, though it hardly suits us to admit as much when we discuss
these subjects broadly. To Mrs. Ray it was wonderful that a Jew should
have been entertained in Baslehurst as a future member for the borough,
and that he should have been admitted to speak aloud within a few
yards of the church tower!
Nina Balatka presents a sharp contrast between the behaviors of the
Jewish and Christian characters. Nina and her father Josef Balatka live
on the edge of poverty; he was cheated out of his business by his
Christian brother-in-law, who is now wealthy. Josef's only source of
money was to sell his house to Anton Trendellsohn's father, who for
many years has allowed Josef and Nina to remain in the house without
paying any rent. Nina's Christian relatives use every form of deceit in
their attempt to turn Anton against Nina. Nina's Aunt Sophie spews
invective in every direction. She tells Nina, "Impudent
girl!--brazen-faced, impudent, bad girl! Do you not know that you
would bring disgrace upon us all?" To Nina's father she says, "Tell me
that at once, Josef, that I may know. Has she your sanction for--for--for
this accursed abomination?" To her husband she says, "Oh, I hate them!
I do hate them! Anything is fair against a Jew." And during a meeting
with Anton she exclaims, "How dares he come here to talk of his love?
It is filthy--it is worse than filthy--it is profane."
Anton's family also opposes the marriage, but Anton's father's behavior

toward Nina is in sharp contrast to that of her aunt:
The old man's heart was softened towards her. He could not bring
himself to say a word to her of direct encouragement, but he kissed her
before she went, telling her that she was a good girl, and bidding her
have no care as to the house in the Kleinseite. As long as he lived, and
her father, her father should not be disturbed.
Anton, being more a businessman than a lover, at times behaves
insensitively toward Nina. Otherwise, throughout the novel, the Jewish
characters act with honesty and kindness. Even the Jewish maiden who
wants to marry Anton does not scheme to break up his engagement to
Nina but rather befriends Nina and eventually saves her life. One has to
wonder whether Trollope intended this contrast to induce his readers to
reconsider their prejudices. Consider his perception of his duty as a
writer:
. . . And the criticism [of my work offered by Hawthorne], whether just
or unjust, describes with wonderful accuracy the purport that I have
ever had in view in my writing. I have always desired to 'hew out some
lump of the earth', and to make men and women walk upon it just as
they do walk here among us,--with not more of excellence, nor with
exaggerated baseness,--so that my readers might recognise human
beings like to themselves, and not feel themselves to be carried away
among gods or demons. If I could do this, then I thought I might
succeed in impregnating the mind of the novel-reader with a feeling
that honesty is the best policy; that truth prevails while falsehood fails;
that a girl will be loved as she is pure, and sweet, and unselfish; that a
man will be honoured as he is true, and honest, and brave of heart; that
things meanly done are ugly and odious, and things nobly done
beautiful and gracious. . . There are many who would laugh at the idea
of a novelist teaching either virtue or nobility,--those, for instance, who
regard the reading of novels as a sin, and those also who think it to be
simply an idle pastime. They look upon the tellers of stories as among
the tribe of those who pander to the wicked pleasures of a wicked world.
I have regarded my art from so different a point of view that I have ever
thought of myself as a preacher of sermons, and my pulpit as one which

I could make both salutary and agreeable to my audience. I do believe
that no girl has risen from the reading of my pages less modest than she
was before, and that some may have learned from them that modesty is
a charm well worth preserving. I think that no youth has been taught
that in falseness and flashness is to be found the road to manliness; but
some may perhaps have learned from me that it is to be found in truth
and a high but gentle spirit. Such are the lessons I