Take Pity (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Malamud
- First Published: 1956
- Type of Plot: Fable
- Time of Work: The early 1950's
- Setting: New York City
- Principal Characters: Rosen, Davidov, Eva Kalish
- Genres: Fable, Short fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Love or romance, Suicide, Twentieth century, New York City, Jews or Jewish life, Widows or widowers, Holocaust, Jewish, Angels
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story
Rosen, an elderly former coffee sales representative, lives in a drab and spartan room, into which Davidov, a census-taker, has limped without knocking. Davidov is surprised that the worn, black shade over the single narrow window is closed, but Rosen grumbles that he does not need light. After cryptic—and, for Rosen, uncomfortable—preliminary exchanges, Davidov opens a notebook and prepares to write. Finding his pen empty, the census-taker pulls out a pencil stub and sharpens it with a razor blade, letting the flakes fall to the floor.
Davidov finally...
[The entire page is 1318 words long]
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