[NGFP-BookClub] Tevye

[helen]

Correction to one thing I said earlier today. When I spoke of Tevye in 
relation to his daughters, in what I said I was forgetting for a moment his
response to the daughter marrying a gentile. However, that still didn't
change how I saw him overall in relation to his daughters. I do think had
Sholom Aleichem not handled that part the way he did,  it would not have
rung true.

Helen Pollock

----------
>From: ruth wisse <wisse@fas.harvard.edu>
>To: ngfp-bookclub@lists.ngfp.org
>Subject: [NGFP-BookClub] Tevye
>Date: Thu, Apr 29, 2004, 5:53 AM
>

>  Avril and Manja (I hope you don't mind us all going on a first name basis)
> see Tevye in slightly different ways. Avril is struck by how much he
> belongs in the interpretive tradition. He functions as the rabbis did, only
> in a modern context, applying the "sources" to situations in his life.
> Manja feels the tradition disintegrating--she notes the tragic
> undercurrents in the stories. Together, these two sets of comments set up
> in a remarkable way the tension in the figure of Tevye, what makes him so
> provocative.
>
>  One of the things that suggests "tragedy" is that this man doesn't control
> very much of his life. At first he gets a lucky break and he makes the most
> of it, but then his daughters begin challenging his authority. Like the
> Jews of his time, he sees the forces of modernity undercutting his
> religious faith and his assumptions. What's more, the priest has behind him
> the power of the tsarist regime, which finally throws him off his land and
> sends him packing. Tevye wants to be a good father, a good Jew. He works
> very hard at being a good person. I think what helps him keep his balance
> is that he can interpret what happens to him instead of letting himself be
> defined by what happens to him. He may not always quote accurately, but he
> feels the Torah and the prayers belong to him: he can use them to define
> who he is, what he feels. His  actions may be limited. His reactions are
> "unlimited." He is free to joke, to mourn, and to protest.
> Does this affect the quality of his life? Is this a good model to follow?
> In reading these stories do we identify with the daughters or with the father?
>
> http://members.ngfp.org/courses/wisse/lesson1
>
>
>
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