Take pity by Bernard Malamud

Take pity by Bernard Malamud

Summary

Two cultures are at conflict in the story “Take Pity”. These cultures are the Polish and the American. Eva represents the Polish culture and Rosen represents American culture. Because of different cultures, Eva and her husband are not ready to trust anyone.

Rosen is an ex-coffee salesperson. He tries to commit suicide. Davidov is a census taker. He has come to find out the reason of his attempt to commit suicide. First reason teases Davidov, but then tells him Axel’s story to explain the reason of his attempts to commit suicide.

Axel Kalish is a Polish refugee. He has come to America to take refuge and for better career. He works very hard and starts a grocery store, but it fails. He asks for credit from a company. The company sends Rosen to analyze the business. He recommends okay out of pity. However, he tells Axel that his business will fail. He advises him to get rid of it. First Axel does not listen to him but then decides to act upon his advice. However, all of a sudden he dies of heart attack.

After his death, his wife, Eva, gets the insurance money. She invests that money in the business. Rosen has advised her not to do that. Her business fails. She and her daughters have nothing to eat. Rosen tries to help her, but she rejects every offer of help. Eva is not ready to accept Rosen’s help because of his idea of self-respect. Rosen wants to help her at every cost. He leaves everything to Eva in his will and tries to commit suicide. At the end, Eva comes to him but he abuses her and asks her to go back.  

1. What does Rosen advises Eva; why does she not act upon it?

Rosen is an ex-coffee sales man and has a good deal of experience about business. From his experience, he knows that Eva’s business would not flourish there.

He advises Eva to take the money and her children and run away from there. However, Eva refuses to act upon his advice because she thinks that with the insurance money she can establish her business. She says that with the insurance money she will stock up and fix the store. She believes that she will be able to attract the customers by decorating the store. Therefore, she rejects this advice because of her optimistic approach.

Secondly, he advises to marry someone, but she again refuses. She believes that nobody will marry her because she is a widow with two daughters. She believes that she cannot have happiness because all her life she has been suffering. Here she refuses because of her pessimistic point of view. (153)

2. Why does Eva refuse offers of help from Rosen?

Eva refuses offers of help from Rosen for various reasons.

When we read the story “Take Pity” carefully, we find that Eva invests the insurance money, but the business does not flourish. Now she and her daughters do not have anything to eat. Rosen takes pity on them and tries to give something to eat to her daughters. However, she does not like it. She rejects the offer because of self-respect.

Secondly, when her business fails miserably, Rosen asks her to leave the shop for creditors. He offers her to shift in his two-family house. She refuses this offer of help taking it charity. She also thinks that Rosen will ask for some kind of payment in return.

Thirdly, Rosen proposes her and promises to take care of her and her daughters but she refuses. Its reason is that Rosen proposes her out of pity not out of love. She wants love not pity. Fourthly, he requests her to let him stock up the store, but she refuses taking it a charity.

Fifthly, Rosen makes a plan and sends her money by post. He informs her that he is an old friend of her husband. He is returning the money taken as a loan from her husband. Eva does not open the second envelope. Perhaps she comes to know that Rosen is behind all this.

Therefore, we can conclude that Eva refuses Rosen’s help because of various reasons. She thinks that her business will flourish someday, nobody will marry her, and Rosen’s help is charity. She misunderstands Rosen. The most important reason is that she is obstinate and is not ready to think reasonably. (274)

3. Why does Rosen want to help Eva?

Rosen wants to help Eva out of pity. The title of the story also suggests that.

Axel Kalish is a Polish refugee. He runs a grocery store. When his business fails, he asks for credit from a company. The company sends Rosen to see the condition of his business. Rosen recommends okay out of pity. He has experience of such business so he advises Kalish to leave the business. He asks him to do some job. He advises him purely out of pity. There is no other motive behind it.

After his death, his wife does not listen to him either. She invests the money. The store fails and things worsen. She and her daughters starve. He cannot look at their faces. He is deeply moved by their suffering. That is why he tries to give something to eat to Eva’s daughters. He is even ready to marry her out of pity. He tells her that he wants to marry her because he wants to take care of her daughters. It is because of this pity that Eva rejects the offer. She wants love not pity.

When we read the story carefully, we find that he wants to help them because he cannot stand their misery. His heart bleeds for them. Moreover, he is sick and knows that he will not live long. That is why he wants to help Eva even with his whole money and with his life. He tries to commit suicide to help her.

Therefore, we can conclude that Rosen tries to help her only out of pity. There is no other motive behind it. (269)

4. Was Eva responsible for her tragic failure?

Yes, Eva was responsible for her tragic failure. She was obstinate and too much optimistic. She was not ready to listen to any advice from Rosen.

Firstly, when her husband died, Rosen advised her to take the money and the children and run away from there. Eva said that she had no place to go. At this, he offered her to shift in his two-family house. He also advised her to find some job so that she might take care of her and her daughters but she did not listen to him. She was hopeful that her business would flourish some day.

Secondly, he proposed her. Eva rejected his proposal. Rosen had promised her that after the marriage he would take care of her and her daughters. It was a good chance. No doubt, he was sick hand his proposal was based on pity, but he could be very helpful to her and to her daughters. We can say that she should not have refused. It was a great mistake.

Thirdly, after that God gave her another chance. Rosen again came to her. He suggested that if she did not want to marry him, he would find a suitable man for her. He said that he would give the dowry. Alas! She again refused. How obstinate she was. There was a man who wanted to help her and her starving daughters, but she refused repeatedly.

Therefore, we can conclude that Eva was responsible for her suffering after the death of her husband. She should have realized that she could not live on her own with her two starving daughters. She was too optimistic and too obstinate. She did not listen to Rosen’s pieces of advice. She vainly hoped that her business would flourish some day. (295)

5. Write a character sketch of Eva.

Eva may be called the heroin of the story “Take Pity”. She was a Polish refugee. She and her husband came to America to take refuge. Her husband started a grocery store but it failed. Later, he died of heart attack. After his death, she tried to re-establish the grocery store but she could not. When we go through the story, we find the following qualities in her character.

Firstly, she had very optimistic nature. We see that she was too much optimistic, rather to the extent of foolishness. Rosen was an ex-coffee salesperson. He advised her not to invest the insurance money, but she did not listen to him. She thought that her business would flourish some day. She kept on believing that until the end of the story.

Secondly, she was a stubborn woman. She did what she decided to do. She did not listen to any advice from Rosen. Some offers mad by Rosen were quite reasonable, but she ignored every offer very stubbornly. Thirdly, she was a woman of great self-respect. To accept anything in charity was disgrace to her. She just could not do that. She would rather die. At one place in the story, Rosen wanted to give something to eat to her daughters, but they refused to take it. They said, “We can’t take, Momma says today is a fast day.” They had become so weak of hunger that Rosen could not look at their faces. The same was the condition of Eva. She was also starving. In spite of all that, she rejected all the offers of help from Rosen. Its reason was that they were based on pity not love.

She rejected Rosen’s proposal of marriage because it was also based on pity. She wanted love not pity. It hurt her self-respect. At the end to the story, when Rosen tried to commit suicide, she misunderstood him. She through that Rosen had done that out of love of hers. That is why she went to Rosen at the end of the story with raised arms. (344)

6. Why does Eva come to Rosen with haunted, beseeching eyes, and raised arms at the end of the story?

It is very surprising that Eva comes to Rosen with hunted, beseeching eyes, and raised arms at the end of the story. Previously, she has been rejecting every offer of help from Rosen. However, when we read the story carefully, we find that Eva does so because of a very dominant quality of her character.

We see that Eva is a woman of greet self-respect. To accept anything in charity is disgrace to her. She just cannot accept it. She would rather die. At one place in the story Rosen wants to give something to eat to her daughters, but they refuse to take it and say, “We can’t take, Momma says today is a fast day.” They have become so weak of hunger that Rosen cannot look at their faces. The same is the condition of Eva. She is also starving.

In spite of all that, she rejects all the offers of help from Rosen. Its reason is that they based on pity not on love. She rejects Rosen’s proposal of marriage because it is also based on pity. She wants love not pity. It hurts her self-respect.

When Rosen tries to commit suicide leaving everything to Eva, she thinks that Rosen has done this out of love of hers. That is why she goes to him with haunted, beseeching eyes and raised arms. Actually, she has decided to marry Rosen. She is quite convinced that Rosen no loves her and does not pity her. (246)

7. What is the cause of conflict between Rosen and Eva?

The cause of conflict between Rosen and Eva is that Eva has too much self-respect. She wants love, but Rosen feels only pity for her.

When we read the story carefully, we find that she is a woman of great self-respect. To accept anything in charity from anybody is disgrace to her. She just cannot accept it. She would rather die.

On the other hand, Rosen cannot understand that. He keeps on trying to help Eva out pity. He tries to give something to eat to her daughters but they refuse to take it. Actually, she has taught her daughters not to accept anything in charity. This shows that she is not ready to accept anything given to her and to her daughters out of pity or in charity.

When Rosen proposes her, she rejects that offer because she knows that this offer is based on pity. Rosen proposes her saying, “For myself, Eva, I don’t want a thing, absolutely not a thing. For you and your girls – everything.” These are shocking words for a woman who believes in love and not in charity. A time comes when she tells him to go away and he should not come back.

Therefore, the cause of conflict between Rosen and Eva is self-respect of Eva. She wants love not pity but Rosen does not understand that. (224)

8. Why is Rosen angry with Eva at the end of the story and why does he abuse her?

It is very surprising that Rosen has been trying to help Eva, but when she comes to him at the end of the story, he abuses her. When we read the story “Take Pity” carefully, we find that Rosen does so because of a very strong reason.

Rosen has been trying to help Eva out of pity. He does everything to help her. He advises her not to invest the money but she does not listen to him. He gives her loan out of his own pocket. He proposes her out of pity but she rejects this proposal. He has a very soft heart. He cannot see her daughters starving. He tries to give them something to eat. He tries to send money to Eva with a fake name. He does all that out of pity. He tries everything, but Eva rejects his every offer.

He is a sick man and he knows that he will not live long. Therefore, as a last attempt, he tries to commit suicide leaving everything to Eva and to her daughters. Fortunately, he is saved. However, still he does not have any interest in life. It appears that he again wants to commit suicide. He tells Davidov that he does not need light. Davidov is a census taker. This shows that he not interested in life.

When Eva comes to him, he misunderstands her. He thinks that she has come to reject his will. He gets angry. He has tried everything to help her and she is still the same stubborn woman. Therefore, he loses his temper, abuses her, and asks her to go back to her children. (274)

9. Describe Eva’s life before her husband’s death.

Eva led a very hard life even before the death of her husband. Her native country was Poland and she belonged to Jewish family. However, she had to leave Poland because of Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Therefore, to save the lives of his family and for better career, her husband took her and their two daughters to America.

However, the condition of her life did not get better. Her husband worked very hard and started a grocery store with his savings, but the store did not flourish and their condition became worse. Now they did not have anything to eat. They applied for loan. Rosen recommended the loan out of pity. In spite of that, his store failed.

After two months, he tried to sell the store but nobody bought. Now they were starving. They did not have anything to spend. They got poorer. Because of hunger and starvation, they became so weak that no one could look at their faces. He decided to go in auction but because of continuous worries, tension and failures he died of heart attack. (180)

10. Discuss Eva’s life after the death of her husband.

After the death of her husband, Eva took over the charge of everything. Although Rosen advised her not to invest the money in the store, yet she did that. She invested the insurance money in the store. She bought all kinds of goods on cash. It took her a week to arrange things in the store. She worked very hard. She packed things on the shelves. She mopped the floors. She mad decorations with tissue paper. In short, she arranged and decorated the store very well.

However no customer came. They used to come only when the main shops were close. They used to buy only minor things. Therefore, her store failed miserably. She did not make any profit. She had no money. She and her daughters at up the food present in the store. After that, they were starving again. Once more, they had become so weak that no one could look at their faces.

In spite of that, they had great self-respect, did not accept anything from anyone, and went on starving. Rosen made many offers to help her and her daughters but she rejected every offer. She thought that Rosen was making those offers out of pity. At the end when Rosen tried to commit suicide, she went to Rosen, but he abused her and asked her to go back. It means that her life of struggle and misery would go on. (235)