THE FIRST SEVEN YEARSby BERNARD MALAMUD(April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986)

BIOGRAPHY• born in Brooklyn, New York,

• fond of Charlie Chaplin's comedies.

• attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, from 1928 to 1932 .

• obtained a master's degree from Columbia University, writing a thesis on Thomas Hardy in 1942.

• worked in factories in Washington during the Depression.

• began writing short stories in the 1940s .

• In 1956, Malamud traveled in Europe and later he used some of his observations there for short stories.

• In 1959, The Magic Barrel , the National Book Award

• in 1942, Malamud met Ann De Chiaraan . They married on November 1945 despite the opposition of their respective parents.

• Ann typed his manuscripts and reviewed his writing. Ann and Bernard had two children, Paul and Janna

• Malamud died in Manhattan in 1986, at the age of 71.

WRITING CAREER• wrote slowly and carefully; not especially prolific.

• the author of eight novels and three collections of short stories.

• The Natural (1952)

• The Assistant (1957)

• The Fixer (1967)

• Malamud is also renowned for his short stories.

• The Magic Barrel is a collection of thirteen short stories written by Bernard Malamud and published in 1958.

13 stories included in The Magic Barrel appear in the following sequence:

• "The First Seven Years"• "The Mourners]"• "The Girl of My Dreams"• "Angel Levine"• "Behold the Key"• "Take Pity"• "The Prison"• "The Lady of the Lake"• "A Summer's Reading"• "The Bill"• "The Last Mohican"• "The Loan"• "The Magic Barrel"

THEMES• the search for hope and meaning

• mythic elements , isolation, class, and the conflict

• aware of the social problems of his day: rootlessness, infidelity, abuse, divorce, and more

• also depicted love .

• moral dilemmas and crises of growth.

• realism and symbolism, as well as tragedy and comedy.

BERNARD MALAMUDTHE FIRST SEVEN YEARS

SETTING THE SCENEWhat do you think the story is about?

Do you like winter?

How do you feel in cold weather and hazy atmosphere?

How do you feel when you love someone?

Do you associate with love and sadness or love and happiness?

PLACE AND TIME

• Polish village• Feld’s Home • Shoemaker store• Sobel’s home• Street• Subway• Office• Bedroom&kitchen

• She is 19

• Sobel is 35.

• Working at shoemaker store for 5 years, and

• Feld wants Sobel to wait Mirriam two more years.

• February• Winter

Atmosphere• Haze of February snow.• Icy night• The shifting blur white outside• Partly frosted window

PLOT• Exposition:   Feld, the shoemaker, was annoyed that his

helper, Sobel, was so insensitive to his reverie. • Rising action:the shoemaker quickly told Max why he

had asked to talk to him.• Climax: Sobel said to Feld that ‘so why you look for

strange boys in the street they should go out with Miriam? Why you don’t think of me?

Falling action : ‘She is only nineteen,’ Feld said brokenly. ‘This is too young yet to get married. Don’t ask her for two years more, till she is twenty-one, then you can talk to her.’ Resolution: when the shoemaker arrived, heavy-hearted, to open the store, he saw he needn’t have come, for his assistant was already seated at the last, pounding leather for his love.

THE EXPOSITION•       EXPOSITION• Exposes the setting - snowy polish village -february• Exposes the characters 1.feld, the shoemaker• 2.Sobel, his helper• 3.Max, the college boy• 4.Mirriam, Feld’s daughter• RISING ACTION:• Feld talks to Max about Mirriam.• Sobel storms out of the shop.• Mirriam does not enjoy Max’s company while on their

dates.• The new assistant steals from Feld.• Feld has a mild heart attack.

• CLIMAX:• Feld seeks Sobel to return to work.• FALLING ACTION:• Feld finds out that Sobel is in love with Mirriam and that is the

only reason he has worked for him for as long as he did.• RESOLUTION:• Feld agrees to allow Sobel to marry Mirrriam.• He just has to wait two more years to propose.• Sobel goes back to mork for as Feld’s assistant.

UNDERSTANDING THE STORY• Why do you think the father wanted to get

his daughter marry Max?

• What is the significance of love in the story?

• Why has the story a title like that?

• Why Miriam’s father wanted Sobel to wait 2 more years for Miriam? (till she is 21)

• Does Miriam love Sobel?

ALLUSION

• The title of the story, which is an allusion to the Biblical story of how Jacob labored in the service of Labon for 7 years to win the hand of Rachel whom he loved.

CHARACTERS

• Miriam :• Independent• Smart• 19years old• Pretty • Soft hair and open face• Chooses to work rather

than attending colloge• Loves to read & discuss

literature• Sensible

• FELD

• Polish immigrant• Shoemaker • Insensitive • Practical man• Had an heart

attack

• Sobel: • 35 years old• Bald • Loves to read books• Feld’s helper• Polish refugee• Stocky man• Has a plain face• Has soft blue eyes

Max:

• Tall and thin• Has a beak-like

nose• Young• Educated • College boy• Materialist

CONFLICT• Mirriam&Feld• Mirriam&Max• Sobel& Feld• Younger&older• Educated&uneducated( formal-informal education)

1.Feld wants Max and Mirriam to marry each other.2.Sobel wants to marry Miriam.3.Mirriam wants her independence.• What blocks their wants;1.Feld does not want Mirriam to Marry Sobel.2.Max and Mirriam do not like each other.

INTERNAL CONFLICTS • though Feld frequently asked himself what keeps Sobel here?

Why does he stay? He finally answered it that the man, no doubt because of his terrible experiences as a refugee, was afraid of the world.

• he went finally in search of Sobel, as he had once before/he decided not to insist on seeing him. Instead he went home and hired a new helper

• • Sobel, you are crazy,’ he said bitterly. ‘She will never marry a

man so old and ugly like you/Ugly I didn’t mean,’ he said half aloud.

• Feld who had looked forward to anticipating how ıt would go with his daughter and Max,instead had a great worry on his mind

SYMBOLS• Book in the hand of Mirriam : the

importance of education

• Worn Leather wallet: poverty

• Rather than education and having a job : independence

FLASHBACKS• the sudden deep remembrance of snowy Polish village

where he had wasted his youth could turn his thoughts from Max the college boy whom he so much respected because of the sacrifices he had made throughout the years to further his education

• Five years ago, after an attack, it had appeared as though he would have either to sacrifice his business upon the auction block and live on a pittance thereafter, or put himself at the mercy of some unscrupulous employee who would in the end probably ruin him. But just at the moment of his darkest despair, this Polish refugee, Sobel, appeared one night from the street and begged for work

•       After the incident with the broken last, angered by Sobel’s behavior, the shoemaker decided to let him stew for a week in the rooming house, although his own strength was taxed dangerously and the business suffered

THEME• Decision making

• Formal & informal education• Appereance &reality•Wealth & Happiness •Material & spiritual

• Love

POINT OF VIEW

• Third person limited

READING BETWEEN THE LINES•       When Feld had sufficiently recovered from his

anguished disappointment to ask why, she answered without hesitation, ‘Because he’s nothing more than a materialist.’

•       ‘What means this word?’•       ‘He has no soul. He’s only interested in

things.’•       He considered her statement for a long time

but then asked, ‘Will you see him again?’•       ‘He didn’t ask.’•       ‘Suppose he will ask you?’•       ‘I won’t see him.’

• Sobel, why you read so much? And the assistant could not answer him. Did you ever study in a college someplace? He had asked, but Sobel shook his head. He read, he said, to know. But to know what, the shoemaker demanded, and to know, why? Sobel never explained, which proved he read much because he was queer.

• How strange and sad that a refugee, a grown man, bald and old with his miseries, who had by the skin of his teeth escaped Hitler’s incinerators, should fall in love, when he had got to America, with a girl less than half his age.

‘So why you look for strange boys in the street they should go out with Miriam? Why you don’t think of me?’ said Sobel.

‘So what has my daughter got to do with a shoemaker thirty-five years old who works for me?’

 ‘Why do you think I worked so long for you?’ Sobel cried out. ‘For the stingy wages I sacrificed five years of my life so you could have to eat and drink and where to sleep?’

 ‘Then for what?’ shouted the shoemaker. ‘For Miriam,’ he blurted – ‘for her.’

CLASS DISCUSSION• What do you think about the end of the story?

• Will Feld allow Sobel to wed Miriam?

• Can Feld put his daughter's feelings above what he thinks is appropriate for her?

• Can Feld learn to see in Sobel what Miriam sees in him?

• What is being wise and literate for you? Does Being graduated from higher school means that you are wise or sophisticated?

• What is the importance of Sobel in Frank’s life?

• What do you think of relationship between Feld and Mirriam?

JOURNAL ACITIVITIES• Write down the similar story if there are similar

love stories in your culture.

• Write down what you would do in Sobel situation.

• Write down your own ending.

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION