Take pity by Bernard Malamud

Summary
Two cultures are at conflict in the story “Take Pity”. These cultures are the Polish and the
American. Eva represents the Polish culture and Rosen represents American culture. Because
of different cultures, Eva and her husband are not ready to trust anyone.
Rosen is an ex-coffee salesperson. He tries to commit suicide. Davidov is a census taker. He
has come to find out the reason of his attempt to commit suicide. First reason teases Davidov,
but then tells him Axel’s story to explain the reason of his attempts to commit suicide.
Axel Kalish is a Polish refugee. He has come to America to take refuge and for a better career.
He works very hard and starts a grocery store, but it fails. He asks for credit from a company.
The company sends Rosen to analyze the business. He recommends okay out of pity. However,
he tells Axel that his business will fail. He advises him to get rid of it. First Axel does not listen to
him but then decides to act upon his advice. However, all of a sudden he dies of heart attack.
After his death, his wife, Eva, gets the insurance money. She invests that money in the
business. Rosen has advised her not to do that. Her business fails. She and her daughters have
nothing to eat. Rosen tries to help her, but she rejects every offer of help. Eva is not ready to
accept Rosen’s help because of his idea of self-respect. Rosen wants to help her at every cost.
He leaves everything to Eva in his will and tries to commit suicide. At the end, Eva comes to him
but he abuses her and asks her to go back.

1. What does Rosen advise Eva; why does she not act upon it?
Rosen is an ex-coffee salesman and has a good deal of experience about business. From his
experience, he knows that Eva’s business would not flourish there.
He advises Eva to take the money and her children and run away from there. However, Eva
refuses to act upon his advice because she thinks that with the insurance money she can
establish her business. She says that with the insurance money she will stock up and fix the
store. She believes that she will be able to attract the customers by decorating the store.
Therefore, she rejects this advice because of her optimistic approach.
Secondly, he advises her to marry someone, but she again refuses. She believes that nobody
will marry her because she is a widow with two daughters. She believes that she cannot have
happiness because all her life she has been suffering. Here she refuses because of her
pessimistic point of view.

2. Why does Eva refuse offers of help from Rosen?

Eva refuses offers of help from Rosen for various reasons.
When we read the story “Take Pity” carefully, we find that Eva invests the insurance money, but
the business does not flourish. Now she and her daughters do not have anything to eat. Rosen
takes pity on them and tries to give something to eat to her daughters. However, she doesn't like
it. She rejects the offer because of self-respect.
Secondly, when her business fails miserably, Rosen asks her to leave the shop for creditors. He
offers her to shift into his two-family house. She refuses this offer of help taking it charity. She
also thinks that Rosen will ask for some kind of payment in return.
Thirdly, Rosen proposes to her and promises to take care of her and her daughters but she
refuses. Its reason is that Rosen proposes her out of pity not out of love. She wants love not
pity. Fourthly, he requests her to let him stock up the store, but she refuses taking it to a charity.
Fifthly, Rosen makes a plan and sends her money by post. He informs her that he is an old
friend of her husband. He is returning the money taken as a loan from her husband. Eva does
not open the second envelope. Perhaps she comes to know that Rosen is behind all this.
Therefore, we can conclude that Eva refuses Rosen’s help because of various reasons. She
thinks that her business will flourish someday, nobody will marry her, and Rosen’s help is
charity. She misunderstands Rosen. The most important reason is that she is obstinate and is
not ready to think reasonably.

3. Why does Rosen want to help Eva?

Rosen wants to help Eva out of pity. The title of the story also suggests that.
Axel Kalish is a Polish refugee. He runs a grocery store. When his business fails, he asks for
credit from a company. The company sends Rosen to see the condition of his business. Rosen
recommends okay out of pity. He has experience of such business so he advises Kalish to leave
the business. He asks him to do some job. He advises him purely out of pity. There is no other
motive behind it.
After his death, his wife does not listen to him either. She invests the money. The store fails and
things worsen. She and her daughters starve. He cannot look at their faces. He is deeply moved
by their suffering. That is why he tries to give something to eat to Eva’s daughters. He is even
ready to marry her out of pity. He tells her that he wants to marry her because he wants to take
care of her daughters. It is because of this pity that Eva rejects the offer. She wants love not pity.
When we read the story carefully, we find that he wants to help them because he cannot stand
their misery. His heart bleeds for them. Moreover, he is sick and knows that he will not live long.
That is why he wants to help Eva even with his whole money and with his life. He tries to
commit suicide to help her.
Therefore, we can conclude that Rosen tries to help her only out of pity. There is no other
motive behind it.

4. Was Eva responsible for her tragic failure?

Yes, Eva was responsible for her tragic failure. She was obstinate and too optimistic. She was
not ready to listen to any advice from Rosen.
Firstly, when her husband died, Rosen advised her to take the money and the children and run
away from there. Eva said that she had no place to go. At this, he offered her to shift into his
two-family house. He also advised her to find some job so that she might take care of her and
her daughters but she did not listen to him. She was hopeful that her business would flourish
some day.
Secondly, he proposed to her. Eva rejected his proposal. Rosen had promised her that after the
marriage he would take care of her and her daughters. It was a good chance. No doubt, he was
sick and his proposal was based on pity, but he could be very helpful to her and to her
daughters. We can say that she should not have refused. It was a great mistake.
Thirdly, after that God gave her another chance. Rosen again came to her. He suggested that if
she did not want to marry him, he would find a suitable man for her. He said that he would give
the dowry. Alas! She again refused. How obstinate she was. There was a man who wanted to
help her and her starving daughters, but she refused repeatedly.
Therefore, we can conclude that Eva was responsible for her suffering after the death of her
husband. She should have realized that she could not live on her own with her two starving
daughters. She was too optimistic and too obstinate. She did not listen to Rosen’s pieces of
advice. She vainly hoped that her business would flourish some day.

5. Write a character sketch of Eva.

Eva may be called the heroine of the story “Take Pity”. She was a Polish refugee. She and her
husband came to America to take refuge. Her husband started a grocery store but it failed.
Later, he died of a heart attack. After his death, she tried to re-establish the grocery store but
she could not. When we go through the story, we find the following qualities in her character.
Firstly, she had a very optimistic nature. We see that she was too optimistic, rather to the extent
of foolishness. Rosen was an ex-coffee salesperson. He advised her not to invest the insurance
money, but she did not listen to him. She thought that her business would flourish some day.
She kept on believing that until the end of the story.
Secondly, she was a stubborn woman. She did what she decided to do. She did not listen to any
advice from Rosen. Some offers made by Rosen were quite reasonable, but she ignored every
offer very stubbornly. Thirdly, she was a woman of great self-respect. To accept anything in
charity was disgrace to her. She just could not do that. She would rather die. At one place in the
story, Rosen wanted to give something to eat to her daughters, but they refused to take it. They
said, “We can’t take, Momma says today is a fast day.” They had become so weak of hunger
that Rosen could not look at their faces. The same was the condition of Eva. She was also
starving. In spite of all that, she rejected all the offers of help from Rosen. Its reason was that
they were based on pity not love.
She rejected Rosen’s proposal of marriage because it was also based on pity. She wanted love
not pity. It hurt her self-respect. At the end to the story, when Rosen tried to commit suicide, she
misunderstood him. She thought that Rosen had done that out of love of hers. That is why she
went to Rosen at the end of the story with raised arms.

6. Why does Eva come to Rosen with haunted, beseeching eyes, and raised arms at
the end of the story?
It is very surprising that Eva comes to Rosen with hunted, beseeching eyes, and raised arms at
the end of the story. Previously, she has been rejecting every offer of help from Rosen.
However, when we read the story carefully, we find that Eva does so because of a very
dominant quality of her character.
We see that Eva is a woman of greet self-respect. To accept anything in charity is disgrace to
her. She just cannot accept it. She would rather die. At one place in the story Rosen wants to
give something to eat to her daughters, but they refuse to take it and say, “We can’t take it,
Momma says today is a fast day.” They have become so weak of hunger that Rosen cannot
look at their faces. The same is the condition of Eva. She is also starving.
In spite of all that, she rejects all the offers of help from Rosen. Its reason is that they are based
on pity not on love. She rejects Rosen’s proposal of marriage because it is also based on pity.
She wants love not pity. It hurts her self-respect.
When Rosen tries to commit suicide leaving everything to Eva, she thinks that Rosen has done
this out of love of hers. That is why she goes to him with haunted, beseeching eyes and raised
arms. Actually, she has decided to marry Rosen. She is quite convinced that Rosen now loves
her and does not pity her.

7. What is the cause of conflict between Rosen and Eva?

The cause of conflict between Rosen and Eva is that Eva has too much self-respect. She wants
love, but Rosen feels only pity for her.
When we read the story carefully, we find that she is a woman of great self-respect. To accept
anything in charity from anybody is disgrace to her. She just cannot accept it. She would rather
die.
On the other hand, Rosen cannot understand that. He keeps on trying to help Eva out of pity.
He tries to give something to eat to her daughters but they refuse to take it. Actually, she has
taught her daughters not to accept anything in charity. This shows that she is not ready to
accept anything given to her and to her daughters out of pity or in charity.
When Rosen proposes to her, she rejects that offer because she knows that this offer is based
on pity. Rosen proposes her saying, “For myself, Eva, I don’t want a thing, absolutely not a
thing. For you and your girls – everything.” These are shocking words for a woman who believes
in love and not in charity. A time comes when she tells him to go away and he should not come
back.
Therefore, the cause of conflict between Rosen and Eva is self-respect of Eva. She wants love
not pity but Rosen does not understand that.

8. Why is Rosen angry with Eva at the end of the story and why does he abuse her?
It is very surprising that Rosen has been trying to help Eva, but when she comes to him at the
end of the story, he abuses her. When we read the story “Take Pity” carefully, we find that Rosen
does so because of a very strong reason.
Rosen has been trying to help Eva out of pity. He does everything to help her. He advises her
not to invest the money but she does not listen to him. He gives her loan out of his own pocket.
He proposes to her out of pity but she rejects this proposal. He has a very soft heart. He cannot
see her daughters starving. He tries to give them something to eat. He tries to send money to
Eva with a fake name. He does all that out of pity. He tries everything, but Eva rejects his every
offer.
He is a sick man and he knows that he will not live long. Therefore, as a last attempt, he tries to
commit suicide leaving everything to Eva and to her daughters. Fortunately, he is saved.
However, still he does not have any interest in life. It appears that he again wants to commit
suicide. He tells Davidov that he does not need light. Davidov is a census taker. This shows that
he is not interested in life.
When Eva comes to him, he misunderstands her. He thinks that she has come to reject his will.
He gets angry. He has tried everything to help her and she is still the same stubborn woman.
Therefore, he loses his temper, abuses her, and asks her to go back to her children.

9. Describe Eva’s life before her husband’s death.

Eva led a very hard life even before the death of her husband. Her native country was Poland
and she belonged to Jewish family. However, she had to leave Poland because of Hitler’s
invasion of Poland. Therefore, to save the lives of his family and for a better career, her
husband took her and their two daughters to America.
However, the condition of her life did not get better. Her husband worked very hard and started
a grocery store with his savings, but the store did not flourish and their condition became worse.
Now they did not have anything to eat. They applied for a loan. Rosen recommended the loan
out of pity. In spite of that, his store failed.
After two months, he tried to sell the store but nobody bought. Now they were starving. They did
not have anything to spend. They got poorer. Because of hunger and starvation, they became
so weak that no one could look at their faces. He decided to go in auction but because of
continuous worries, tension and failures he died of heart attack.

10. Discuss Eva’s life after the death of her husband.

After the death of her husband, Eva took over the charge of everything. Although Rosen
advised her not to invest the money in the store, yet she did that. She invested the insurance
money in the store. She bought all kinds of goods in cash. It took her a week to arrange things
in the store. She worked very hard. She packed things on the shelves. She mopped the floors.
She made decorations with tissue paper. In short, she arranged and decorated the store very
well.
However no customer came. They used to come only when the main shops were close. They
used to buy only minor things. Therefore, her store failed miserably. She did not make any
profit. She had no money. She and her daughters ate up the food present in the store. After that,
they were starving again. Once more, they had become so weak that no one could look at their
faces.
In spite of that, they had great self-respect, did not accept anything from anyone, and went on
starving. Rosen made many offers to help her and her daughters but she rejected every offer.
She thought that Rosen was making those offers out of pity. At the end when Rosen tried to
commit suicide, she went to Rosen, but he abused her and asked her to go back. It means that
her life of struggle and misery would go on.