An Analysis of Neighbors

British and American literature，F(xiàn)oreign Language Department， Inner Mongolia University Hu Ying

Isaac Bashevis Singer is an American Jewish writer. He was born in Poland in 1904， and moved to America in 1935. Even though he is an American citizen， he never forgot his own identity. He had profound feelings towards his Jewish ancestors. In order to evoke the true feelings and remind Jewish never lost themselves， he insists on writing in Yiddish. He attributes his efforts in promoting Jewish-American literature which is an inalienable and important part of American culture.

Neighbors is a short story of Singer which describes the coldness and inconstancy of American society by telling the story of two old Jewish. Singer used the first person narration.

The author and the two old Jewish live in the same building， Morris Terkeltob was a writer who always bragged how he is welcomed among women； the other is Margit Levy， who has a very complicated background as she said， “from my life one could write not one book but a whole literature. Hollywood movies are childs play compared to what happened to me.” These two characters didnt like each other at first， Morris called Margit crazy old lady， and Margit do not want to meet “that creature” ever.

But something changed when the narrator came back after a long holiday. To his surprise， he saw Morris was holding on to Margits arm. The narrator heard that the landlady in whose apartment Margit boarded had given up her place to Miami. She would have been thrown out into the street. And no one cares her. It was Morris， her annoying neighbor who shows humanity. Morris said，” one gets older， not younger. When you are ill， you need someone to bring you a glass of tea.” They are isolated from American society.

Margit is a very complex character. She is suspicious to anything. All the people surrounding her are foes to her. The two characters had something in common. Margit swore that her landlady wore her dresses and used her medicine when she was out and Morris complained about the rudeness and accused playwrights of the Yiddish theater of stealing from his stories. It is clear that they are both suffering from the lack of security.

They are just two old Jewish， lonely and miserable， living under prejudices and gloom for most of their life. America did not give any of them dignity or respect. When Morris had a gallstone in the hospital， Morris told the narrator that the doctors had no respect for the patients， and the nurses did not come when they were called and the sick did not get proper food. He asked the narrator，” in what way are doctors better than writers or theater directors？ It is the same human species.” They have no one to depend on. They did not trust the society， so they always thought they were persecuted. They became each others supportive friends at last. From what Morris said we can see he wanted to be with someone， he needs recognition. They need warm and friendship. But in a city like New York， a persons name often dies before him.

Jewish people failed in rebelling against Roman Empire. After that， the Jewish nation are scattered all around the world. They havent rebuilt their country until the foundation of Israel. Jews suffered great persecution during the World War 2. There is another reason can explain why they had this” persecution mania”. Jewish nation had a miserable history since it founded. America is an open country， but it is still not tolerable enough to accept neither of them. Morris kept his own belief， used his broken English， struggling in this cold society. Margit tried to adjust to this society， but society never showed sympathy for this old lady even if she converted her religion.

America gave them hope at some level， but never let them come true. In Neighbors， the story developed around Singers presentation of Jewish sufferings and disasters. Though the relationship of different groups of people， we see the two Jewish people are isolated and ignored from the American society. They immigrated to this country for survival but they were not recognized by America， and died lonely.

Persecution always takes an important position in Singers works， and it will exist. Even though Jews survived after so many disasters， the gloomy memories still destroyed their nerves which will not disappear easily. They can hardly believe in god or humanity. The coldness and dark American society made them more pathetic.

作者簡介：

胡瑩，內蒙古大學外國語學院2013級英語語言文學。