Death is something that is experienced by everyone at some point in their life. When death is experienced in someone's life it serves as a reminder that death is everyone's fate. Many people begin to fear death once they experience it in their lives. However, there is one way to expel these fears from your life, "A Contract with God." You will see that this contract leads Frimme Hersh down a specific path, and he had no control over where this contract lead him.

The comic strip, "A contract with God", written by Will Esiner, shows the life of a man named Frimme Hersh. In the earlier years of Frimme's life his face is without definition, the moment when Frimme's face can be seen is when he first makes this contract with god. This alludes to the point in a person's life when they find out who they want to be and begin to become that person. The death of Hersh's parents made him a, "a child of the childless"(Esiner 109), the villagers that did not have any children began to take care of Frimme. He would perform good deeds for the villagers that took care of him and every time he would perform a good deed they would tell him, "God will reward you". Soon after this the elders of this village told Hersh they believed that he was favored by god and that they were sending him to America with "Rabbi Lipshitz". While traveling with Lipshitz, Frimme begins to question the rabbi about god he ask, "Is god just?" After this conversation with the Rabbi, Lipshitz goes to sleep, Hersh proceeds to create this "Contract with God". This entire part of the story Frimme's face is undefined, no lines, no texture. The artist of the comic drew Hersh's face prior to him creating this contract as a black edgeless face. Hersh states, "Then I will make a contract with god", his face begins to become defined with round lines and edges. The fact that Frimme's face can be seen right after he writes on this stone tablet places an enormous emphasis on this moment. The emphasis that the artist places on this tablet shows that this contract tells Hersh how to lead his life from that point on. What Frimme fails to understand is that leading his life in a particular way will lead him to a pre-determine destination, a destination that he may enjoy or one that he may regret.

The reader is never enlightened to what was exactly inscribed in the stone. However, we begin to see the path that Hersh takes in life. He devotes himself to good deeds and becomes a Rabbi. Following in the footsteps of the person he talked to god about, Lipshitz. Frimme is unlucky to only have one father figure to look up to, there was only one path he knew of. He never intended to become a Rabbi but it happened because the inscribed stone lead him to this destination, this way of life. He moved to New York and found shelter in a, "Hassidic community" (Esiner 113), he completed good deeds in this piety community for many years. Following the contract with god to carve his path through life, Hersh is now an old man. He is met with the challenge of raising a daughter, Rachele, which was laid on his doorstep by some unknown mother. He loved Rachele, adapted to his situation and still believed this to be the path that god intended him to follow. You see Frimme grow close to this child in the images of him taking care of her as a baby, dancing with her, and reading to her. Hersh becomes devastated when he finds out Rachele fell fatally ill and passed away. This is the first time that Frimme experiences death in his own life, this moment serves as a reminder to him that death is his ultimate fate. The changes that occur in Hersh after this event are the same that would occur in any person's life that experiences death. Frimme becomes enraged and begins to angrily question god about why this has occurred. He proclaims, "We have a contract!!" (Esiner 117) He believes that god has broken the contract that they agreed on many years ago. The image that portrays this moment contains many dark lines that show the stress that is experienced by Hersh. The stress of his broken contract with god leads him to making significant changes in his life. Although never shown what these changes are the next time we see Frimme he is extremely wealthy. He returns to his old synagogue, it is obvious by the way Hersh carries himself at this point that he is no longer the light hearted man that he once was. He demands that the elders of his old village write him a new contract with god and only when Frimme offers the elders a lease to a property that he owns in exchange for this contract do the elders consider producing this contract. Hersh explains to the elders that the contract that was previously created was, "poorly written". The first contract was written on the night Frimme had a conversation with Rabbi Lipshitz about god. When Hersh was a child he was unaware that the contract created during his youth would lead him to the death of Rachele. The contents of the first contract was not poorly written, I'm sure the information that was inscribed in stone was truthful. The problem with the contract was that it was set in stone, there was never any changes made to it throughout his life. When the death of Frimme's daughter occurs he immediately begins to question his contract with god, something he should have been questioning his whole life. The changes that occur in Hersh's life after Rachele's death are changes that lead him to this wealth he now possesses at an old age. He felt as though he needed to become even with god to renegotiate his contract. This time instead of asking a Rabbi about the contract with God, he demands the elders forge a contract for him themselves. The elders contemplate creating this contract for hours, finally they produce Frimme's renegotiated contract. This renegotiated contract leads to Hersh's fall, his death.

Hersh was misguided from the beginning of the story during the conversation with Rabbi Lipzshit.  The Rabbi's name is enough of a clue that Lipshitz led Frimme down a path that he did not desire. As Hersh was questioning the Rabbi, the night the first contract was made, Lipzshit suddenly lays to down to go to sleep ending the conversation. Then Frimme begins to create this contract with god that will lead him to the death of Rachele and finally, his death. There was more information that Lipshitz could have given Frimme during that conversation. The proof of this lies within the main icon of the comic, the contract with god, because of its evolution. The contract is first seen represented by a stone tablet, when the elders give Hersh the contract that they have conjured it is represented as two large sheets of paper that surely contains more information than the stone tablet, which would have helped Frimme earlier in his life. Hersh feels since he finally has a genuine contract with god that he, "will make a new life" (Esiner 126), get married and have a daughter that he will name Rachele. This is a bold statement for someone at such an old age, and is confirmed as a bold statement when Frimme has a heart attack and dies right after he proclaims his new found dream. It's ironic because if Frimme would have known of that dream the night he made his first contract with god then he would have surely achieved this dream. Hersh dies with his dream only because the time that he was given on this earth came to an end.

