what are your impressions of Samuel?

I think Samuel is well intentioned. He returns to his little village a successful man. There is, however, a gap in experience. Berl & his wife did not recognize him & had trouble understanding his Yiddish which was mixed with foreign words. Samuel stayed for the Sabbath with them He asked what they did with the money & Berl showed him it was stuffed in a boot. On the Sabbath Samuel went for a walk. He had come here with big plans. He had presents for his parents & money of his own & from the Lentshin Society in New York which had given a ball to raise money for the village. But the village needed nothing. He could hear chanting from the synagogue & his mother saying the holy rhymes inherited from mothers & grandmothers. Samuel seems like a well intentioned young man who wants to share his success with his roots. Samuel does not understand that contentment and "success" means something different in these very different worlds.

How would you explain what Samuel has realized by the end of the story?

I think Samuel realized that his parents and his village was content without the money he has sent and his grand plans for the church. Certainly Samuel's heart was in the right place but he sees that money and materialism means little to these people and contentment is had through the simple necessities of life.

Samuel discovers that not everyone needs or wants money to be happy, that many people (including his parents) can just simply be content with their lives no matter where they are or what they're doing.

Note; if you need any further information, please post questions under one of the "school" names, if the novel or study guide isn't available. We've been asked not to have confusing answers and questions from other novels intermingled in the wrong areas.

Thanks! :-D

do you know who the charcters are in the poem Exile?