God's Grace

God’s Grace (1982) is the eighth and final novel by American writer Bernard Malamud. The narrative follows protagonist Calvin Cohn, the only man to have survived after a thermonuclear war and a flood wipes out the entire human race. Throughout the novel, Calvin attempts to rebuild society and perfect the human experience.

As the novel opens, all living creatures on Earth have been wiped out as the result of a nuclear holocaust. Calvin Cohn, a Jewish paleontologist, is the sole survivor of the apocalyptic event. At the time of the incident, Calvin was deep underwater in a submarine and thus protected from the radiation. As Calvin surfaces, he realizes that the Earth has been flooded as well. God communicates with Calvin, telling him that he only made it out alive because of a small error on God’s part. He assures Calvin that he will meet the same fate as the rest of humanity, but not just yet.

Calvin boards a ship called the Rebekah Q and finds a young chimpanzee on board. As Calvin continues to explore the contents of the ship, he learns that the chimpanzee used to belong to Walther Bunder. Before he passed away, Walther taught the chimp sign language so that they could communicate. Calvin decides to call the chimp Buz. In speaking to the chimp, Calvin finds that he is quite intelligent and seems to have some understanding of what he is saying, which is very comforting to Calvin.



Calvin notices that the water level seems to be dropping. He and Buz find an island and take whatever supplies they can from the ship, bringing them to a cave on the island where Calvin attempts to build a shelter. However, due to the high levels of radiation that still abound, Calvin becomes sick. He is so ill that he is barely conscious for a while, although he is cared for by some mysterious presence that provides him with food and water, nursing him back to health. When Calvin becomes lucid again, he realizes that he is in the presence of a giant gorilla, which Calvin dubs George, who has evidently been caring for him the entire time he has been on the island.

Shortly thereafter, Calvin discovers that Buz can speak like a human, thanks to a surgery performed by Bunder before he died. Calvin is ecstatic to have someone to converse with, as it makes him feel less alone. He begins to work with Buz to improve his language skills; he also decides to teach Buz theology. He realizes that Buz has learned about Christianity from Bunder, who gave the chimp a crucifix and taught him about Jesus of Nazareth, but Calvin wants to teach Buz about his own faith, Judaism. Calvin starts to view Buz as his adopted son, and even has the chimp refer to him as Dod since he is unable to pronounce Dad.

After living on the island for a few months, Buz and Calvin discover that there are other chimpanzees living there as well. Buz forges a connection with these monkeys of the same species; he teaches them human speech as well. Buz names his chimpanzee friends after people from the Bible. Calvin decides that they should celebrate by having a Seder, to which all of the chimpanzees are invited. They join together to enjoy a festive meal, thanking God for saving them from the nuclear holocaust.



Calvin decides to establish a school for the chimps, taking it upon himself to care for the creatures and educate them. The school Calvin establishes takes place in a tree and consists of him telling stories to the chimps. After listening to Calvin, the chimps develop their own speech, and their distinct personalities begin to emerge.

One of the chimps, Mary, is reaching maturity, and attracting the attention of several males, including Calvin. He believes that if he and Mary mate, they will create a new species. Mary demonstrates her affections for Calvin, enraging the other males of the group. Eight months later, Mary gives birth to a baby girl who is half chimpanzee and half-human. They call her Rebekah Islanda.

One day, the chimpanzees spot a baboon that they kill and eat, signaling to Calvin that they are digressing back to their natural state in spite of his attempts to civilize them. Soon, all of the chimpanzees are running wild. They enter Calvin’s cave and take baby Rebekah, eventually killing her. Calvin attempts to stop the chimps by destroying their ability to speak. He snaps certain wires in Buz’s neck that gave him this ability in the first place. Calvin ends up being taken prisoner by the chimps, who destroy all of his belongings.