Christian Perversions

Slightly late, but here it is:

In Hamsun's Christians Perversions by James Woods, he talks about how the main character from Hunger becomes angry when he meets a man that changes his mind extremely quickly. A common seen from Hamsun's works, this shows the most vital part of the novel, the character. The character is a very hateful person, and is always looking for a fight. This is essentially the direct opposite of Jesus. The only similarity between the two figures is that they both give charity to people. However, can you even call it charity if you give it to feel good?

For example, at the school here we have a variety of 'service' clubs. Yes, they are clubs made to perfome service towards less privelaged people. I'm part of one of them, the Animal Shelter. However, these clubs are supposed to be charity. But, I can assure you, if you go around and ask people in the club what they are doing the club for, you will mostly hear a variation of this response: I need the hours.
Is it charity if you do a charity club for your own personal benefit? I say no, because charity means you get nothing out of it. However, this doesn't mean its bad. You are still helping the group out, only you are getting something out of it. Besides, the IB virtually makes it impossible to do something for service. They say that you need 50 hours of service to pass the IB. Therefore, they force you to do it. What is the point in trying to teach somebody to do charity, and making them get something out of it? Its akin to me telling somebody to go and paint a building. Yes, they do it, and they get the hours out of it. They don't get the joy out of it though, the main reason for doing charity.

This whole argument applies to the main character of Hunger. He does kind things to people, but doesn't do it for charity, but for the pride of doing it. He believes that it is something that will save him, something that will help him get out of poverty. While these are valid beliefs, it removes the point of calling it charity. Therefore, I believe that at least on these terms, it is wrong to compare Jesus to the protagnosist of Hunger.