V. JONAH AS FOLK ANTIHERO
5.2.2 Jonah as Failed Social Actor
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Ninevites, as respecting the power of the God of Israel is ostensibly the reason for this observation. In truth, the matter is more complicated, and the contention that the Jonah story champions universalism is difficult to support through direct evidence.326 Jonah's relationships with these minor characters are more indicative of his own failings than any virtues ascribed to the non-Israelites in the story. After all, the narrator is silent on this point, preferring instead to let the audience imply that ethnic stereotypes are being challenged within the story.
This constant focus on Jonah allows weaknesses in his personality to be exposed, and Jonah is consequently revealed to be a poor communicator. Communication between persons in social systems underpins the sociological perspective of dramaturgy pioneered by Erving Goffman in his 1959 work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.327 In Goffman's view, a human "actor" presents himself to other humans based upon a set of culturally encoded norms and expectations, standards which are negotiated upon from a number of different. The goal from the actor's perspective is to be viewed through his face-to-face interactions in any way he wishes--irascible, noble, or unpredictable, and so forth. To illustrate how this applies to Jonah's social situation, let us look at Jonah's
"performances" in terms of ritual actions in the story. This is appropriate because ritual is, ultimately, a form of social communication.
Of the four scenes in the Jonah story three of these end with the performance of some ritual action.328 In the first instance, the fearful sailors each cry out to their own
326 See R.E. Clements, The Purpose of the Book of Jonah (VTSup 28; Leiden: Brill, 1975), 16-20.
327 New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1959. I mention Goffman here because it is he who first used the theater metaphor to describe symbolic interactionism in human behavior.
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god while Jonah sleeps in the hold below. He is awakened by the captain to participate in this action, but the narrative mentions no such gesture on Jonah's part. Jonah participates in the casting of lots (itself a ritual action) and when the blame is placed upon him he explains that ―I am a Hebrew‖ (1:9). In this perceptual sphere of socio-political
organization this is a significant descriptor of self, and the sailors' onset of terror causes them to turn to Jonah for a solution to make the sea calm (1:11). Rather than explain why this storm has befallen them Jonah offers himself as a sort of sacrifice, explaining
"because I know that it is on my account that this great storm is upon you." (kî yôdēaʿ ʾānî kî bešellî hassaʿar haggādôl hazzeh ʿalêkem; 1:12). This seemingly selfless act actually has nothing to do with God; it is the sailors who cry out (1:14) and make vows and sacrifices to God (1:16). Jonah has retreated again, failing to participate.
At the end of the second scene, at the conclusion of his intricately constructed psalm, Jonah says, "I will offer sacrifice to you. What I have vowed, I will perform."
(ʾezbeḥā-llak ʾašer nādartî ʾašallēma; 2:10).329 Once again, this ritual action is framed as a failure. Not only is his newfound piety ultimately revealed to be false but Jonah's offering of his own life in the parallel sequence in the fourth scene (4:3, 4:9) is hardly the ultimate sacrifice that Jonah intimates. The third scene is notable especially because of Jonah's absence in all of the ritual actions described. The Ninevites' repentance is so thorough that even beasts will be covered in sackcloth (3:8) but Jonah is still excluded.
Inasmuch as ritual behaviors are "social dramas," public displays in which societal
328 Carroll, "Jonah as a Book of Ritual Responses," 261 ff.; as described by Carroll, these three actions are, 1) the sailors offering a sacrifice to God and making vows (1:16), 2) Jonah's psalm and promise of sacrifice (2:9), and 3) the Ninevites' repentance and wearing of sackcloth (3:6-8).
329 It is interesting to note that the action of Jonah's address to God uses the same form as his "prayer" from chapter two (2:2), wayyitpallēl. Even though similar language is used in this section corresponding to Jonah's speech in the second chapter, the context is radically different; a change in the dynamic between these dramatis personae has clearly occurred.
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conflicts and prerogatives are played out, we see that Jonah's failure to participate in these actions represents that he remains outside of social organization.330
Social dramas signify a "great collective gesture" of society since they enact and reinforce that society's ideals, and participants who fulfill prescribed roles in such rituals are like actors who affect the plot and of a theatrical performance.331 Jonah's intention to represent himself as a harbinger of God's destruction fails; for the prophet fails to realize that God's purpose was to redeem Nineveh and not to destroy it. In spite of the
effectiveness of his message, Jonah has failed to reconnect with humanity and his subsequent sulking in an area to "east of the city," away from others, means that
Jonah finds himself in a role he does not want, and he is superfluous to the drama playing itself out in the city. The drama has, essentially, gone on without him after his
announcement to repent.