Contrasting the Implied Author and the King

         In Isaac Babel's "How it was done in Odessa", two men, one young and one old, sit on the cemetery wall discussing the success of a boss of a Jewish gangster mob in Odessa, Russia. The young man, the implied author of this story, asks old Reb Arye-Leib how Benya Krik could have become the King, when many other contenders seemed to wield more strength, power, and ingenuity. Arye-Leib's answers this question with a narration of the life of Benya Krik and how he came to be the boss of the gangster mob. Babel uses the contrasting qualities of the young man and Benya to devise the explanation, with Arye-Leib saying "That's why he's the king, while you thumb your nose in the privy."
         The young man with "spectacles on [his] nose and autumn in [his] heart" is characterized most directly by the narrator Arye-Leib's description of him. Arye-Leib begins his explanation with "Cease playing rowdy at your desk... Imagine for a moment that you play the rowdy in public..." He illustrates the young man as a man who is so full and active in the mind and in writing, however cannot put any of those ideas into action. He highlights the young man's vigor in the pursuit of knowledge, but idleness in practice. Another indirect inference of the young man's character can be drawn from his writing as the implied author of the story. In the beginning where the few seconds of story-time is passing in silence and in waiting, the implied author fills the discourse time with "A man who thirsts for an answer must stock himself with patience. A man possessing knowledge is suited by dignity.", implying that he is of an intellectual and subdued character. So what is the key difference in the young man's character and Benya's? According to Arye- Leib it is that "You would have done nothing. But he did something."
        The reason why Benya Krik became King was because he did what the young man and others did not. When charged with the task of raiding Tartakovsky who had survived nine previous raids and "had already once been buried", he just replied, "'O.K.'" and carried it out. He also successfully provided five thousand roubles down and fifty a month to the mother of a deceased son, out of Tartakovsky's pocket. Lastly, Benya Krik swore to kill the murderer of the deceased son and was able to announce the man's death at the son's funeral. This last act earns him the title of the "King" from a trembling yet awe-inspired spectator. It was not that the deeds made the King, but the King was made by his willingness to carry out the deeds. Benya was a man of determination and will who always carried out what he said he would. It is apparent that Arye-Leib regarded the ability to take action as the key to climbing to the top of the rope ladder, and not any personal qualities such as strength and power that the young man seemed to highly regard.