Read the passage. “I am a business man,” the shoemaker abruptly said to conceal his embarrassment, “so I will explain you right
away why I talk to you. I have a girl, my daughter Miriam—she is nineteen—a very nice girl and also so pretty that everybody looks on her when she passes by in the street. She is smart, always with a book, and I thought to myself that a boy like you, an educated boy—I thought maybe you will be interested sometime to meet a girl like this.” He laughed a bit when he had finished and was tempted to say more but had the good sense not to. How does this passage from “The First Seven Years” by Bernard Malamud contribute to the story’s main idea?
The main idea of the story is a feeling that immigrants are familiar with, and that is the wish that parents have for their children to have a better life than they did in their new country. This is the feeling that Feld has. Feld is a Jewish shoemaker who wants his daughter to have a good marriage, therefore, improving her position in life. In this passage, we can see that he is trying to convince this man (who he believes would be a suitable partner for her) to meet his daughter Miriam, and perhaps start a relationship with her. However, Miriam is in love with another man, which will create a conflict for Feld. He will have to decide what is more important, her wishes, or his desire for her to do well in life.
