Character Analysis
The protagonist of The Assistant, Frank Alpine is a young Italian man who's come east to Brooklyn, New York, in the hopes of making something of his life:
All my life I wanted to accomplish something worthwhile—a thing people will say took a little doing. (2.2.59)
He's worked a lot of odd jobs, but never one for very long. He gets close to something—a long-term job, a woman, an education. But close, as he says, is as far as he gets:
I am too restless—six months in any one place is too much for me. Also I grab at everything too quick—too impatient. I don't do what I have to—that's what I mean. The result is I move into a place with nothing, and I move out with nothing. (2.2.59)
You could call him a vagrant, or a drifter.
The Repentant Criminal
Most recently, Frank gave the life of crime a shot. Let's just say it didn't work out too well for him. He bought a gun and got himself involved with all sorts of unsavory types. One of these, the racist Ward Minogue, got him involved in an armed robbery. The two men held up a small grocery store operated by an old Jewish fellow named Morris Bober.
We see in this criminal act that Ward and Frank are very different men and that Frank just isn't cut out for the ruthlessness of the criminal world. He pleads with Ward not to assault Morris Bober when the grocer seems to have little money (1.6.7). Frank wants to rob the place without hurting anyone, but he can't do that, not only because he can't keep Ward's violent nature in check, but also because the poor people he'd steal from suffer mightily because of the loss (1.6.28).
The Assistant is basically the story of Frank Alpine trying to atone for his participation in the robbery and the hurt it caused Morris and his family. While he's guilt-ridden, he's not really reformed. He has a conscience, but he's usually too weak to listen to it.
Thief and Spy
Frank helps out the Bobers by working as a clerk for meager pay and a place to sleep. He's not untalented. His charm and charisma win the store new customers and bring back lost ones. Frank has the personality of a salesman. Unlike Morris or Ida, he'll make the extra effort to pitch products and try new techniques (3.3.2).
With the added income coming into the place, Ida gives Frank a raise. This upsets Frank because he's actually been pocketing money from the register:
Frank felt troubled by the raise because he was earning something for his labor that Ida knew nothing of, for business was a little better than she thought. During the day, while she was not around, he sold at least a buck's worth, or a buck and a half, that he made no attempt to ring up on the register. (3.3.5)
He plans to pay it all back someday, but he's still doing what he shouldn't be doing. And for obvious reasons he's keeping it a secret from his employers. He also justifies the theft to himself:
He has nothing to be ashamed of, he thought—it was practically his own dough he was taking. The grocer and his wife wouldn't miss it because they didn't know they had it, and they wouldn't have it if it wasn't for his hard work. (3.3.5)
More worrisome, perhaps, Frank takes a secret interest in Morris and Ida's beautiful adult daughter Helen:
He got the feeling that she wanted something big out of life, and this scared him. Still, he tried to think of schemes of getting her inside the store… (3.2.4)
A man of lust, passion, and loneliness, Frank discovers that he can spy on her while she undresses before a shower:
He felt greedy as he gazed, all eyes at a banquet, hungry so long as he must look. But in looking he was forcing her out of reach, making her into a thing only of his seeing, her eyes reflecting his sins, rotten past, spoiled ideals, his passion poisoned by his shame. (3.5.19)
For a time, this spying becomes as much of a habit as stealing from the register. He'll bring himself to quit both bad deeds, knowing that they won't bring him what he really wants, but he'll also fall into temptation and start up again.
A Dreamer
Despite his moral failings, Frank is aware of his immorality and knows that it's wrong. He wants to be free of his vices. He desires to do better:
One night he felt very bad about all the wrong he was doing and vowed to set himself straight. If I could do one right thing, he thought, maybe that would start me off… (3.4.1)
He'll hurt people terribly, no more so than when he rapes Helen and then smothers her with his need to be forgiven. But he's complicated. He cares about Helen. He cares about Morris and Ida. He even seems to care about the criminal Ward Minogue. He tries to make amends. He confesses to doing wrong when he can no longer keep his wrongdoing to himself.
By the end of the story, Frank hasn't become a great financial success or won Helen's affections. He's taken over for Morris and is working an extra job to help Helen achieve her dream of a college education. He'll still have his ups and downs for sure.
However, Frank finds something he can commit to permanently. He becomes a Jew, circumcision and all. He commits to the Jewish way of life, and we sense that he will strive to live by the Law as Morris had done. Frank has gotten over his prejudice, his dislike and distrust of Jewish people. He's come to better understand and appreciate who they are and what life means to them. He believes that their way offers him a way to remake his life.
Frank Alpine's Timeline