Mr. Zuss and Nickles

From the view of Mr. Zuss and Nickles, two characters in the book J.B., J.B. suffers from God’s will. J.B.’s children, his wife, his health, and his home are taken from him. Nickles and Mr. Zuss have different reasons why God makes all humanity suffer. Mr. Zuss believes that man should always have faith in God, whether in grief and pain, or in delight. Nickles thinks that God prepares humans for death through suffering. He believes that God makes people suffer, but doesn’t have to. He is upset with J.B. because J.B. does not reject God after God miserably humiliates him. At the end of scene 9, J.B. learns the he will never know why he was suffering. God shows how powerful he is, and J.B. repents. His repentance, though, disappoints Mr. Zuss and Nickles. Mr. Zuss is disappointed by J.B.’s arrogance of forgiving God, and not praising God, while Nickles is disappointed by J.B.’s ongoing faith, in spite of all of the hardships God has put upon him. He believes that J.B. had the c...