Sons Of The 613 By Michael Rubens Character Analysis

Jacob Lee

Multicultural Literature

Ms.LePell

19 April 2023

What does it mean to finally become a man? The assumption of transitioning from boyhood to manhood is often mistaken by thinking it’s all about developing physical attributes. However, developing mentally is just as important, and developing both is what Michael Rubens demonstrates to his readers. In his entertaining novel, Sons Of The 613, Rubens depicts two different characters as total opposites. One of the characters, Josh, is 6 '3, 245 lb, and his body is pure muscle. He recently got accepted into the military and pain does not bother him at all. The other character is Isaac, a middle schooler who plays soccer, chess, and a lot of video games. After reading the first couple of

When Isaac was assigned to do all his quests, we notice him developing physically, but towards the end of the novel, we also notice Isaac developing mentally. In Josh’s perspective, the quest is gonna make Isaac more masculine and stronger because all the quest that was assigned to him are designed to toughen him up, “The point? The point is being a man, Isaac. Conquering your fear, facing danger, dominating the powers of nature—” (85). With this in mind, we notice the difference between how Isaac and Josh think about life, to the point where Josh wants to make Isaac more like him. Even though Isaac lacks a strong physique, he also lacks a lot mentally. He isn’t very independent and usually relies on his parents to make decisions for him, “Do you know what would be great? If you had an independent thought in your head that didn’t come directly from Dad” (93). Even though Isaac is still very young and lacks a lot of attributes, he still has heart and dedication. Eventually, he gets tired of how Josh is treating him and he wants to stand up to him. As we keep reading we see Isaac becoming stronger both physically and mentally, “I feel helpless and angry, and I’m still shaking from the shock, but I also feel half crazy, like it being two in the morning and having Patrick there makes anything possible, and I don’t want to back down. I want to win somehow”(107). Despite the harsh

He becomes a lot smarter, as well as more mature and responsible. In the last couple of pages, Isaacs's little sister, Lisa, has strep and with Josh being in charge of his two younger siblings, he is panicking and doesn’t know what to do. His first option was to get her to the hospital, but Isaac was able to figure out what kind of illness she encounters and he is able to help her. He took initiative into helping her little sister when Josh wasn’t able to, “I Might be a total pussy, Josh, but I do know what I’m talking about, I say to Him, very quietly. And you know it”(273). Isaac took responsibility for helping her and was smart enough to know what to do. He was mature and smart enough to stay calm, unlike Josh who was panicking a lot and was somewhat making Lisa even more terrified of what was happening during that time. As we see Isaac slowly maturing he also learns the difference between right and wrong. In the early chapters of the book, we are introduced to a character named Eric Weinberg. Just like Isaac, Eric Weinberg is also Jewish, but according to Isaac’s social hierarchy, he is ranked very low. Isaac’s mom forces him to hang out with Eric, but as they hang out they have a little feud because Isaac thinks Eric isn’t cool enough to hang out with him. Eventually, Isaac regrets what he has done to him and has the guts to apologize to him, “it