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Similes
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—A Cosmic Error:
When the Rebbe decides to allow Asher to continue painting, Aryeh's reaction is conveyed with the following instance of situational irony in Chapter 7:
My father carried his burden of pain all through the celebration of my bar mitzvah. [...] My father’s right to shape my life had been taken from him by the same being who gave his own life meaning—the Rebbe. [...] In some incomprehensible manner, a cosmic error had been made. The line of inheritance had been perverted. A demonic force had thrust itself into centuries of transmitted responsibility.
Related Themes:
