TATIANA BECERRA RODRIGUEZ

COD: 2014238005

7. In which way does Feld reflect a mirror of his own life in Sobel’s life in “The First Seven

Years”?

Essay on the short story “The First Seven Years” by Bernard Malamud

Bernard Malamud was raised under the Jewish tradition. His literary works make them one

of the main exponents of the Jewish American literature. Among the topics of this type of

literature, there is the Jewish aim to improve their lives through education and economic stability.

In “The First Seven Years” by Bernard Malamud, Feld reflects a mirror of his own inability to

offer a better life to his wife through immigrant Sobel’s life.

Firstly, Sobel is not an educated man, hence, if Miriam married him, her life would not be

better than her mother’s. Feld understands education as going to college to study a high, socially

respected profession. And, Miriam’s future will be bright if she marries a respected man and

even, if she finally decides to go to college. To illustrate this idea, at the beginning of the short

story, shoemaker Feld is in his store imagining how successful Miriam’s future will be if she

marries an educated man: “[...] if not - the shoemaker’s mind at last came to grips with the truth

-let her marry an educated man and live a better life” (Malamud, p.2). As viewed, given the fact

that Feld’s daughter does not want to go to college but is only interested in reading books, an

educated husband could improve her quality of life. However, if Miriam marries Sobel, an

uneducated Polish immigrant, like Feld himself, she will be encouraged to read those queer long

books they both like and her life will not be better than the one her mother had.
 Secondly, Being Sobel a shoemaker, as Feld was, he would not offer Miriam a better life

than the one Feld offered to his wife. The part of the story which best exemplifies Feld’s fear of

his daughter becoming the wife of a shoemaker, like him, is in the middle of Feld and Sobel’s

discussion when Feld rectifies that he did not mean Sobel was ugly but ugly would be Miriam’s

life if she married him: “He felt for his daughter a strange and gripping sorrow, as if she were

already Sobel’s bride, the bride, after all, of a shoemaker, and had in her life no more than her

mother had had” (Malamud, p.8). Although his shoe repair shop allowed him to afford a college

education for his daughter (Malamud, 1950), Feld did not consider shoemaking a respectable

profession. For that reason, he was so desperate to get a doctor or a lawyer to become Miriam’s

husband. Having fulfilled that goal, Miriam’s life would flourish. On the contrary, if Miriam

married a shoemaker, like her mother marrying Feld, she would have an ugly life (Malamud,

1950) too.

Thirdly, in Feld’s opinion, immigrant Sobel, as himself, does not have the economic

possibility to improve his future wife’s life. After Sobel’s effusive escape of the store, Feld starts

reflecting on him as an employee. About Sobel Feld thinks: “The amazing thing was that he

demanded so little. His wants were few; in money he wasn’t interested -in nothing but books, it

seemed” (Malamud, p. 4). On the one hand, for Feld as an employer is very convenient that his

worker Sobel demands so little because that way Feld is able to pay Sobel stingy wages

(Malamud, 1950) while he enriches himself. On the other hand, and even though Feld considers

himself a businessman he recognizes that his socio-economic status is not enough to get his wife

and daughter a better quality of life. So, if Feld -who according to his own perspective- being

more successful than his employee Sobel, is not able to improve the quality of life of his own
family, much less Sobel, an uneducated Polish immigrant who, as is not interested in money, has

no aspirations of succeeding in life.

To conclude, in “The First Seven Years” by Bertrand Malamud, Feld reflects a mirror of

his own inability to offer his wife a better life through immigrant Sobel’s life. They resemble on

the fact that they are both uneducated shoemakers. Being shoemakers leaves them without the

economic stability to improve a family’s quality of life because, for Feld, the traditional view of

education, depicted in going to college and studying a socially respected profession, is the only

way to assure Miriam a better life.

REFERENCES:

- Malamud, 1950. The First Seven Years.

- Class Presentation on The First Seven Years performed on 2nd October 2018.