📚AP English Literature
2. In this excerpt from Abraham Cahan's novel The Rise of David Levinsky, published in 1917, the narrator describes his reaction to a new student. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Cahan uses literary elements and techniques to convey the complexity of the narrator's attitude toward his rival.
Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
His appearance produced something of a sensation, for, in addition to being the son of a rich merchant and the prospective son-in-law of a celebrated rabbi, he was the possessor of a truly phenomenal memory. He was well versed in the entire Talmud1, and could recite by heart about five hundred leaves, or one thousand pages, of it. He was generally called the Pole. He was tall and supple, fair-complexioned, and well-groomed, with a suggestion of self-satisfaction and aloofness in the very sinuosity of his figure. His velvet skull-cap, which was always pushed back on his head, exposed to view a forelock of golden hair. His long-skirted, well-fitting coat was of the richest broadcloth I had ever seen. He wore a watch and chain that were said to be worth a small fortune. I hated him. He was repugnant to me for his Polish accent, for his good clothes, for his well-fed face, for his haughty manner, for the servile attention that was showered on him, and, above all, for his extraordinary memory. I had always been under the impression that the boys of well-to-do parents were stupid. Brains did not seem to be in their line. That this young man, who was so well supplied with this world's goods, should possess a wonderful mind as well jarred on me as an injustice to us poor boys
I would seek comfort in the reflection that "the essence of scholarship lay in profundity and acumen rather than in the ability to rattle off pages like so many psalms." Yet those "five hundred leaves" of his gave me no peace.
Five hundred! The figure haunted me. Finally I set myself the task of memorizing five hundred leaves. It was a gigantic undertaking, although my memory was rather above the average. I worked with unflagging assiduity for weeks and weeks. Nobody was to know of my purpose until it had been achieved. I worked so hard and was so absorbed in my task that my interest in girls lost much of its usual acuteness. At times I had a sense of my own holiness. When I walked through the streets, on my way to or from the synagogue, I kept reciting some of the pages I had mastered. While in bed for the night, I whispered myself to sleep reciting Talmud1. When I ate, some bit of Talmud was apt to be running through my mind. If there was a hitch, and I could not go on, my heart would sink within me. I would stop eating and make an effort to recall the passage
It was inevitable that the new character of my studies should sooner or later attract Reb Sender's attention. My secret hung like a veil between us.
He was jealous of it. Ultimately he questioned me, beseechingly, and I was forced to make a clean breast of it
Reb Sender beamed. The veil was withdrawn. Presently his face fell again
"What I don't like about it is your envy of the Pole," he said, gravely.
"Don't take it ill, my son, but I am afraid you are envious and begrudging.
Fight it, Davie. Give up studying by heart. It is not with a pure motive you are doing it. Your studies are poisoned with hatred and malice. Do you want to gladden my heart, Davie?"
"I do. I will. What do you mean?" "Just step up to the Pole and beg his pardon for the evil thoughts you have harbored about him."
A minute later I stood in front of my hated rival, thrilling with the ecstasy of penitence.
Source: Abraham Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky, 1917
1 Talmud: a central text of Rabbinic Judaism
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