The Assistant (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Malamud
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1930’s
- Setting: Brooklyn, New York
- Principal Characters: Morris Bober, Ida Bober, Helen Bober, Frank Alpine
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, New York City, Guilt, 1930’s, Robbery or robbers, Ethics, Judaism, Grocery trade
- Locales: Brooklyn, NY
The Story:
Morris Bober, a sixty-year-old Jewish immigrant owner of a small Brooklyn grocery store, was slowly being driven out of business by a fancy delicatessen-grocery recently opened around the corner. Rising at six on a cold, windy autumn morning to sell a three-cent roll to a sour-faced Polish woman, Morris began his daily routine of drudgery and frustration. Working long hours in a dreary store, Morris barely made a living for himself, his wife Ida, and his daughter Helen, who desired to go to college and live a meaningful life. Every afternoon Morris escaped the gloom...
[The entire page is 2048 words long]
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