Idiots First (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Malamud
- First Published: 1961
- Type of Plot: Fable
- Time of Work: The mid-twentieth century
- Setting: New York
- Principal Characters: Mendel, Isaac, A pawnbroker, Mr. Fishbein, Yascha, Ginzburg
- Genres: Fable, Short fiction
- Subjects: Parents and children, Traveling or travelers, Love or romance, Poverty or poor people, Fathers, Death or dying, Trains, Mental retardation, Old age or elderly people, Pawnbroking or pawnbrokers
- Locales: New York
The Story
“Idiots First” begins with the stopping of Mendel's clock as the old man awakens in fright. The importance of time in the story is foreshadowed in the opening paragraph when the reader is told that Mendel “wasted minutes sitting at the edge of the bed.” Once moving, he dresses, summons his son Isaac, and, pocketing a paper bag containing his modest savings, leads his son into the night. The old man seems very fearful, and he warns Isaac to avoid Ginzburg, who came to see Mendel the day before. “Don’t talk to him or go with him if he asks you,” Mendel...
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