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Call It Sleep (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

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David Schearl, a Jewish boy who leaves Russia with his mother to settle in New York City, where his father has recently established himself. David is extraordinarily sensitive, and it is through his senses and intellect that the life of the immigrant city comes to life. He is fiercely attached to his protective mother and afraid of his harsh father, who scorns David and suspects that his son actually is the offspring of his wife’s affair with another man. The curious David makes friends with Leo, an Irish boy, and learns in rather crude fashion about...

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