At one point, Bernstein says, ".since fighters and baseball men are all educated, why don't you try to become so. This comment wounds Jake's pride because he considers himself more as a self taught scholar. Jake's only retort was to attack Bernstein by telling him "he can not speak English"(7) and that he could "speak quicker than Bernstein. Obviously, Jake has put such a high value on being able to blend into American society with English skills that he discounts general education. .
Jake has also changed his name from Yekl to Jake. If he thought back to his real name and identity, "the thought.would bring to Jake's lips a smile of patronizing commiseration. Had his family name proven to be a nuisance, it surely would have been changed; "By mere negligence it had been left intact."(12) Jake would abandon not only his culture but also his family for further advancement into the American culture.
Regardless of his attempts to move forward without looking back, he can not. His inappropriate behaviors weigh on his soul even though "he attempt[s] to deceive his own conscience.(13) He does not even believe in his actions one hundred percent. The shadow of doubt is not minimal, it is one that he is unable to ignore completely. Despite his conscience, his desire allows him to press on. Jake is beginning to allow himself to change more freely; however, his past keeps bringing him back. On one occasion, he tries to pray again only to realize he has long since forgotten his prayers. Upon the thought of neglecting his prayers that night, he is haunted by a childhood superstition that gives him the impression he had "the cold grip of a pair of hands about his throat."(33).
Freedom, to people that have none, can be as dangerous as it can be glorious. Jake feels that living in America had aged him in three years "so much more, in fact, than in all the twenty-two years of his previous life.
