The story “Rothschild’s fiddle” takes place in a small village with the main characters named Jacob, a Russian coffin maker, Rothschild, a poor Jewish musician, and Martha the wife of Jacob. Jacob isn’t very fond of Jews specifically Rothschild. Besides being a coffin maker Jacob plays the fiddle in an orchestra for weddings but because of his hatred for Jews he later in the story becomes a backup player rather than a main performer. Jacob is a very complex character; he thinks everything is a loss; in fact Jacob begins to see his life as a handful of “losses.” Sundays and holidays when he cannot work represent losses; a wedding without music being played represents a loss; a rich man who happens to die and be buried out of town is another …show more content…
Later that night the wife cries out that she is going to die but gives off an impression that she looks forward to death because of her hard, loveless life from Jacob. Horrified, the coffin maker takes Martha to a hospital, where the medical assistant just shrugs her off as hopeless. Refusing Jacobs pleas leads Jacob to take his wife’s measurements and begin to work on a coffin. After she has died Jacob becomes ill and this leads Rothschild back to Jacob but instead of Jacob feeling hatred for Rothschild he begins feeling a sense of realization within himself and death brings Jacob to a point where he in fact calls Rothschild whom he hated “Brother”. Jacob plays his fiddle for Rothschild for the last time and his pain is so well felt from the fiddle that Rothschild and others who here it can’t help but weep. I feel like the moral of this story from what was shown is to tell yourself to give up accolades of the world and instead sink into the world itself therefore you will never be seeking for losses but seeking only for …show more content…
We began to talk and address how to deal with loss, as we began thinking about loss, some students came up with the idea of thinking about the good times of the individual instead of the bad witch may help somebody who experiences loss like Jacob did. We talked about how when one forgets, it is as though it never happened, and for Jacob he treated his life experiences as if his life had never happened. Corey talks about how he became content and how he was unhappy and wasteful for the duration of his life. As Melvin Josh the philosophy teacher spoke I began to take note that in are life we suffer, and foolishly we believe that there is an end to suffering by achieving something, doing something, or feeling something, but no matter what it never truly comes to an end. This is seen in Jacobs’s life where he goes through this revelation of questioning his life and the life he could have had witch may have brought him more money or how he could have treated his wife so much more greatly. Eventually his thoughts lead him to the truth by realizing Jacob is somewhat freed from the suffering, and that is where the true peace is found. My thought on this story was in my opinion a very good representation of what common human beings go thru when it pertains to losses meaning something in life
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
Berniece tries to show Boy Willie that the piano experienced more than pleasant events during those days. She interprets their Mama Ola’s pain by saying, “ ‘Mama Ola polished this piano with her tears for seventeen years. For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled...she rubbed and cleaned and polished and prayed over it...seventeen years’ worth of cold nights and an empty bed. For what? For a piano? For a piece of wood?’ ” (52). The tragedy of their Mama Ola is an almost mythic quality in their unified imagination, but the time has robbed it in Boy Willie’s face. He forces himself to think of his Mama Ola’s suffering as a metaphor than an actual event.
Kate Chopin’s brilliant, well-put short story, “The story of an hour” basis around Mrs. Millard who is married to her spouse Mr. Millard and is appeared to be dead by the news that Richard and Josephine brought.
Back in the years the play was written and performed, England was an entirely Christian country, with Jews banished from England. Jews had to worship in secret, and were hated by the general public. They also could not have many occupations Christians could have, and one of the few jobs that Jews were permitted to do was to be a moneylender. Sh...
Exploring the duality of memory; how we perceive the past, learning about the duality of the present; how we are constantly between the expectation of the future and past experience, as well as coming to the realization of the duality of life and death; how we are always living and dying at the same time. We are constantly in a state of suspension between dual experiences, whether they be life and death, love and loss, hot and cold, fast and slow, close and far, or past and future. There is no differentiating between them as they are all interconnected and depend on each other for their own existence. There would not be one without the other and we cannot appreciate the good without the bad. Life comes with infinite possibilities and even more ways to experience them, so we must take it all in with acceptance and appreciate the suspension act of life while we
The stories dissatisfied family demonstrates the adverse psychological effects that arise from the insatiable desire for money. The family’s desirous yearn for more money causes a crazy obsession amongst them. Obsession is described as the domination of a person’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image or desire (Dictonary.com). Obsession is first seen in the family as the narrator describes them,“there was never enough [money]….there was always the grinding sense of the shortage of money…” (Lawrence 36). Although the family’s basic financial needs are met, they are unsatisfied, and continue to want more. The young main character, Paul, is consumed with the obsession of money. Paul’s maddening obsession climaxes as he savagely rocks on his rocking-horse in hopes of picking ...
In Kate Chopins “Story of the Hour”, several elements contribute to the overall meaning of the story itself.
In Conclusion, the short story, “The Treasure of Lemon Brown,” by Walter Dean Smith illustrates the theme that although a person might not be as fortunate as others, the smaller things in their life can mean just as
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour”. The Seagull Reader: Stories. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. 65 – 67.
In comparing and contrasting the short stories “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker and “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, tradition is carried on throughout the generations. Symbols are often used in these short stories to convey these messages of tradition and heritage. Rebellious characters are also found in both of the stories, trying to alter traditions to meet their own personal expectations. However, in contrast “The Lottery” is a much more barbaric story that does not reveal the cruelty until the end of the story. The story involves an entire village of families following a tradition. “Everyday Use” is not as tragic, it deals with a conflict within a single family unit.
O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi,” is about a couple who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. The story takes place on Christmas Eve in a furnished apartment at eight dollars a week. I feel that the narrator mocks Jim and Della for being poor. “It did not beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.” (O. Henry 165). Della and Jim’s income shrunk from thirty dollars a week to twenty dollars a week causing them a great deal of financial problems. They both are troubled that Christmas is tomorrow and they cannot afford to buy each other a nice gift. Jim’s gold watch and Della’s hair play an important role in the story.
In conclusion, the play represents the collapse of the “American Dream” for a typical lower-middle class family in Brooklyn during an economic depression. The story represents “the brutality of the system toward man” (Kroll). Willy, with his illusions of living the present with the mementos of the past represents the unwanted desire to accept reality. Therefore, he decides to commit suicide in a coward way and leave the insurance money to the family. Moreover, his wife sees the whole process of Willy’s death without interference in order to not hurt his pride. His sons, Biff and Happy, always had a constant pressure to achieve luxuries and comforts of the American Dream and due to that pressure they were unable to attain it. Willy dies believing in a dream that his family did not believe because they were seeing reality a little bite closer than him.
The late Irish poet Oscar Wilde once stated, "In the world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” This quote accurately describes human nature to the extent that man is never fully satisfied with his current possessions. In fact, most people who rely on materialistic items for happiness are typically desolated and miserable. This story is based on an archaic view on women, where women have no caste or hierarchy. The people grade women based off their looks and beauty. Money “practically makes nobility” (Shmoop). It “enables the user to pay for the high life” (Shmoop) and confine the person with luxurious items known to man. Money controls the life of people, rather than vise versa, causing greed. Malthide, who is the wife of a minor clerk, has immense greed to live a sumptuous life. Malthide’s greed led to her destruction and turmoil, however her grief is what taught her an everlasting lesson.
In the book “The Loaded Dice”, two stories “Fingers” and “Mrs Bixby and the Colonels Coat” have demonstrated the act of revenge very well. The story “Fingers” was a tale of L...
“The Rocking Horse Winner” is a story that discusses a young boy, named Paul, and his family who feel they never have enough money. The family has insufficient funds, but when Paul provides the mother with money, she only desires further. This constant yearning causes the boy to feel the desperate and the interminable need to provide for his family. He in a sense almost hungers to replace his father and become the sole provider. Through trying to please his mother, the young boy Paul meets his demise. This tragic conclusion illustrates the lengths Paul will go in order to replace his father and become the provider for his mother. This story displays elements of an Oedipus complex, because of Paul’s desires to replace his father and the effects of insatiable greed, eventually resulting in his premature mortality.