Previous
Dramatic Irony
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Asher and Aryeh:
Asher and his father Aryeh are foils of each other. Despite being father and son, they are essentially opposites, as Aryeh identifies in Chapter 3:
“Geography you don’t know. Chumash and Rashi you don’t know. Mishnayes you don’t know. Sometimes I wonder whose son you are, Asher.”
Asher identifies directly the "adversarial" relationship between him and his father as a result of their different values in Chapter 6:
He asked me during Succos if I thought I would want to come to Vienna the following year. But now I did not want to be any place where he was, for he had set himself up as an adversary to me and I feared going with him.
Even though they are both Levs, Asher and Aryeh represent completely different responses to the challenges imposed by their Ladover faith community. Aryeh is the right-hand man to the Rebbe, the highest Rabbi in their community, and is his envoy, often sent on special missions to spread Orthodox Judaism throughout Europe and teach people the Torah. He is a picture of the "ideal" Hasidic Jew in this community, committed to his faith and revered for that fact.
Meanwhile, Asher's artistic talents concern Aryeh and the rest of the community because they fear these talents come from "the other side," meaning they are evil. Aryeh calls his son's art "foolishness" and a "waste of time." As Asher gets older, he falls out of love with the faith and community to which his father has devoted his life. In other words, while Aryeh is upheld as the standard in the Ladover community, Asher is seen as the ultimate liability. Aryeh stands for the community's expectations for Asher and is ultimately the force that confirms he will never live up to those expectations.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Asher and Aryeh:
Asher and his father Aryeh are foils of each other. Despite being father and son, they are essentially opposites, as Aryeh identifies in Chapter 3:
“Geography you don’t know. Chumash and Rashi you don’t know. Mishnayes you don’t know. Sometimes I wonder whose son you are, Asher.”
Asher identifies directly the "adversarial" relationship between him and his father as a result of their different values in Chapter 6:
He asked me during Succos if I thought I would want to come to Vienna the following year. But now I did not want to be any place where he was, for he had set himself up as an adversary to me and I feared going with him.
Even though they are both Levs, Asher and Aryeh represent completely different responses to the challenges imposed by their Ladover faith community. Aryeh is the right-hand man to the Rebbe, the highest Rabbi in their community, and is his envoy, often sent on special missions to spread Orthodox Judaism throughout Europe and teach people the Torah. He is a picture of the "ideal" Hasidic Jew in this community, committed to his faith and revered for that fact.
Meanwhile, Asher's artistic talents concern Aryeh and the rest of the community because they fear these talents come from "the other side," meaning they are evil. Aryeh calls his son's art "foolishness" and a "waste of time." As Asher gets older, he falls out of love with the faith and community to which his father has devoted his life. In other words, while Aryeh is upheld as the standard in the Ladover community, Asher is seen as the ultimate liability. Aryeh stands for the community's expectations for Asher and is ultimately the force that confirms he will never live up to those expectations.
Related Themes:
