Book Review

What do you get when a Jewish author writes a book about Koreans who worship the spirits of their ancestors and sing Christian songs to keep them going day to day? I Am the Clay by Chaim Potok. I Am the Clay is a departure from much of Potok's other work that focuses on Orthodox Jews living in New York. Instead, this book follows an old man, an old woman, and a young injured boy along their journey as refugees in the Korean War. Potok uses profound religious symbols as he juxtaposes foreign Christianity with Korean ancestral worship in a story of self-discovery and love.

From fleeing their village with shells exploding close by, to "a patch of uninhabited darkness amid the surrounding fires" the old man carries the spirit of his father in a wooden box. The old woman makes food offerings to the spirits throughout the journey though food is scarce, and the old man believes the young boy has special powers as the threesome is blessed with fish, a pair of gloves, and the surprise of finding their home unscathed.

At the same time, in worshipping her mother, the old woman remembers a song taught by "the pale man with the upside-down eyes": "Have thine own way Lord have thine own way, thou art the potter, I am the clay." She has long forgotten what the English words mean, but repeatedly sings the song to herself for comfort when the trek seems unbearable. Another repeated symbol of Christianity is the big cross which brings medicine for the injured boy, removes shrapnel from his chest, and provides work for the boy after he returns to the village with the old couple. The symbols of Christianity provide spiritual and physical strength that the old woman and the boy need to continue their journey.

Interestingly, the old man perhaps grows the most as he learns the meaning of love. As he sees the compassion the old woman has for the young boy, he finds "himself gazing at something within him that he had never before seen. All knew of the unseen world beyond the everyday realm of appearances; but he had never thought there might be such a world inside himself: unexplored and cavernous." At the end of the novel, as the old man sees the love the young boy has for the woman, "he felt deep within himself a slow and tortuous turning and then an opening of doors to deeper and deeper recesses inside himself, caves leading to caves, and his heart raced and he wondered if this was what was meant by the word love, which he had heard spoken from time to time, this baffling sensation of tremling warmth and closeness he now felt."

Potok beautifully explores the growth that sprouts from trial, the healing that walks hand-in-hand with suffering, and the love that rises from the rubble of war.