Essay Questions

Deconstruct Ida’s remarks regarding Morris’s smoking.

Malamud explains, “He took a quick drag, clipped the butt with his thumb nail and quickly thrust it under his apron into his pants pocket. The smoke made him cough…Ida held her hands over her ears…’Cigarettes,’ she said bitterly. ‘Why don’t you listen what the doctor tells you?’ " Ida's question surmises that Morris is defying the doctor's advice regarding not smoking, The cigarettes make him to cough which is a demonstration that it is unhealthy and harmful. Morris' addiction to cigarettes is so overwhelming that he defies the doctor's instruction.

How does poverty impact Morris and Ida’s marriage?

Malamud elucidates, “She (Ida) had waked that morning resenting the grocer for having dragged her, so many years ago out of a Jewish neighborhood into this. She missed to this day their old friends and landsleit-lost for parnusseh unrealized. That was bad enough, but on top of their isolation, the endless worry about money embittered her, she shared unwillingly the grocer’s fate.”

Poverty embitters Ida; she unconsciously feels that her husband is liable to their lowly conditions. Although she influenced their setting up of a grocer shop, she resents her husband when the business does not contribute to their prosperity. Money is a contributing factor in the stability of a marriage.

How does the business environment impact Morris’ grocery business?

Malamud writes, “He recalled the bad times he had lived through, but now times were worse than in the past; now they were impossible. His store was always a marginal one, up today, down tomorrow-as the wind blew. Overnight businesses could go down enough to hurt; yet as rule it slowly recovered.” The business environment shakes the stability of Morris’ grocer shop. Sales are not booming; hence, grocery shop does not offer financial stability. The wind is emblematic of the unfavorable business conditions that have adverse implications on Morris’ business.