of the Jews which are considered undesirable?
Harriet Saltzman is a typically heroic Jewish-American character in Uris' book. Her character and destiny is inextricably linked to Israel, although she demonstrates her loyalty to the United States as well again and again. Israel is shown by Harriet's dedication to be worth dying for, and to be worth giving all one's life and work to create and sustain:
It is good to be a Jew working for the rebirth of a Jewish nation but it is also a very good thing to be an American. . . . Do you know that the American Jews give us [Israel] more than all Americans give to the Red Cross? (Uris 327).
Harriet is suspicious of the gentile nurse Kitty, but it would be a dense reader who would not know that Kitty would eventually be fully accepted as a trusted friend of Israel. Harriet's watchfulness is seen as a ne
...