The comic strip, "A contract with God", written in black and white by Will Esiner, shows the life of a man named Frimme Hersh, the main character of the comic. Hersh creates a contract with god written on a stone tablet very early in his life, and happily lives his life. Until he feels that this contract has been violated by God, devastated by his broken trust with god. The changes that occur in Frimme's life lead him to immense wealth. Once Hersh is wealthy he creates a second contract that, he feels, reestablishes the trust between him and god.  The difference between the first contract and the second contract along with the display of specific scenes through Will Esiner's use of color, texture, and shadow portrays how Hersh obtained his wealth, and that without a doubt he could have obtained this wealth at a younger age.

In the earlier years of Frimme's life his face is without definition, the moment Frimme's face can be seen is when he makes this first contract with god. When Hersh creates this first contract he forms a relationship with god, a trust between them. The death of Hersh's parents made him, "a child of the childless", (Esiner 109) the villagers that did not have children began to take care of Frimme. He would perform good deeds for the villagers that take care of him, and every time he would perform a good deed they would tell him, "God will reward you". However this is not how Esiner portrays the story, the images are drawn with mostly dark lines and dark shading. The texture that Esiner chooses to use for this comic evokes a dismal tone, in the early years of Hersh's life he is alone unless performing a good deed for a villager. 

Hersh is then sent to America with Rabbi Lipshitz because the elders of the village believed him to be favored by God. While traveling with Lipshitz, Frimme begins to question the Rabbi about god he ask, "Is god just?" During this frame, he creates the first contract, the image showing this portrays a light bulb going off in Hersh's head, with all the black lines drawn in a circular pattern around him. Esiner drew Hersh's face prior to him creating this contract as a black lineless face. Hersh states, "Then I will make a contract with god", his face begins to become defined with round lines and edges. Hersh believes himself to be favored by God, but he believes he must continue to please everyone to stay in God's favor. Hersh moves to a piety community and begins to devote his life to studying god and preforming good. Using the first contract as a navigational tool for a life in favor of God. The contract symbolizes a guide for Hersh when the stone tablet is displayed in the corner of page 113. Frimme believed himself to be favored by God because of the good deeds that he performed throughout his entire life. 

The next picture shows Hersh, who is now an old man, looking up at the text with a baby on the floor in front of his doorstep. Just by looking at the picture one can infer that Frimme was beginning to question his trust with God when he saw this baby on his doorstep. However, Hersh raises the child and loves her for many years. In the images on page 115 Frimme is shown growing close to this child, Rachele, taking care of her as a baby, dancing with her, and reading to her. When the pages first scene has no frame then the final scene of that page does have a frame, this is Will Esiner implying that time has passed. During the same frames that Hersh grew close to Rachlele, change can be seen in both Rachele and Frimme through these frames.

 Hersh had good reason to question his trust with God because he finds out Rachele has fallen fatally ill and passed away. Will Esiner portrays this scene with many dark lines that give a horror feel to the image. Frimme's trust with God is completely broken, giving good reasoning to him questioning god when the child was first presented to him. The image that portrays this moment contains many dark lines that express the stress that is experienced by Hersh. 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. At first we cannot see Frimme's face because it is hidden by a shadow until he demands that the elders of his old village, the same village with previous elders that believed him to be favored by god, write him a new contract with god. The elders begin to discuss whether or not to produce this contract for Hersh. Their only concern is that they will not be able to write the contract to fit Frimme's criteria and still follow the laws of God. It is ironic that the elders of the same village as the elders that told Frimme they believe that he was favored by God struggle to create this contract for him. The changes that occur in Hersh's life after Rachele's death are represented by additions that the elders made to the second contract. If Hersh would have known about the additions that the elders gave during the time he created the first cotract, he would have surely obtained his wealth much earlier in life

The tears of joy that Hersh experiences once he receives the contract that the elders created for him tells us that he, again, has trust with god. With this reacquired peace Frimme is determined to live out his dreams to marry and have a child that he shall name Rachele. The wealth that Hersh has acquired has made this dream easily obtainable. He states that, "This time, you will not violate our contract!"(Esiner 126)  This is on the last page of the story, following this statement Hersh has a heart attack and dies. Esiner shows one of Frimme's speak bubbles shattering, which is an symbol for the shattering of his new found dream to start a family and raise a child. The final frame of the story is a picture of Hersh dead on the ground with his left hand gripping onto the table cloth. This fame implies that Frimme did not want his dreams to shatters, the time he lacked, from old age, made it impossible for him to achieve his dreams.

In the beginning Frimme was always told that he was favored by god by people he performed good deeds for, because of this he believed that he must please everyone in order to stay in the favor of God. When the death of Hersh's daughter occurs he realizes that he no long needs to please anybody to feel as though he is favored by God. What Frimme failed to understand was that any day you wake up and you are able to take a breath you are in favor of God. When Hersh realizes this fact he feels his trust with God has been broken and understands the wealth he could have possessed many years ago. Once he obtains this wealth he returns to the same village, where he was told that he was favored by God, to have a second contract created by the elders of the village. The elders create this second contract that reestablishes his trust with God, this allows him see this dream of starting a family and raising a child. This dream is shattered when Hersh has a heart attack and dies. Frimme's wealth and his dreams could have become reality, from an early age, if he would have realize he could not please everyone and still expect himself to be pleased.

