The First Seven Years

“Neither the shifting white blur outside, nor the sudden deep remembrance of the snowy Polish village where he had wasted his youth, could turn his thoughts from Max the college boy (a constant visitor in the mind since early that morning when Feld saw him trudging through the snowdrifts on his way to school), whom he so much respected because of the sacrifices he had made throughout the years—in winter or direst heat—to further his education.” 

This opening paragraph establishes an important aspect of Feld’s identity, namely, that he is an immigrant. In addition, it communicates to the reader the importance Feld attaches to Max’s college education. Feld associates Max’s daily trudge to his classes with a form of hard work that will eventually lead to success and upward mobility.

“Feld, if anything, was a practical man.” 

Feld sees himself as a practical, business-minded man who refuses to make decisions on the basis of sentimentality. His practicality in this case is part of what drives his decision to serve as a matchmaker for his daughter. Later events prove that he is not as practical as he believes, so this phrase becomes ironic on further reading.

“Yet he could not help but contrast the diligence of the boy, who was a peddler’s son, with Miriam’s unconcern for an education. True, she was always with a book in her hand, yet when the opportunity arose for a college education, she had said no she would rather find a job. He had begged her to go, pointing out how many fathers could not afford to send their children to college, but she said she wanted to be independent. As for education, what was it, she asked, but books, which Sobel, who diligently read the classics, would as usual advise her on.”

This quote reflects the conflict between Miriam and Feld over what it is to be educated and the difference between immigrant notions of success and the notions of first-generation children of immigrants. For Miriam, education does not have to be formal in nature. It represents systematic engagement with ideas that a person can derive even from books. Feld, who is motivated by the notion of the American Dream, believes that education can be a measure of his success if he becomes a father who can afford higher education for his daughter.