Character sketch of Sobel

Tema	Anglų kalba
Tipas	Topikas
Aprašymas	Sobel is the one of the main characters in the short story The First Seven Years. He is a refugee from Poland and works for a shoemaker Feld as his assistant. That we can see in line 115: “But just at the moment of his darkest night despair, this Polish refugee, Sobel, appeared one night from the street and begged for work”.
Patalpinta	2005-07-08
Parsisiuntė	173
	Parsisiųsti5 KB

Išsamus aprašymas

Sobel was uneducated; however, he read a lot: “He had once asked him, Sobel, why you read so much? And the assistant could not answer him. Did you ever study in a college someplace? He had asked, but Sobel shook his head. He read, he said, to know”. As we can see, he was not educated at any college or university, but he educated himself by reading books. From the line 116 the narrator directly presents Sobel’s appearance: “He was a stocky man, poorly dressed, with a bald head that had once been blond, a severely plain face and soft blue eyes prone to tears over the sad books he read”. We also know the exact age of Sobel: “So what has my daughter to do with a shoemaker thirty – five years old who works for me?” At the end of the story, in line 326, Mr. Feld did an conclusion and presented Sobel’s appearance in two words: “She will never marry a man so old and ugly like you”. The characters’ qualities are presented indirectly through Sobel’s actions. Sobel is hard working assistant. There are many scenes in this short story where we can see Sobel working. Even the beginning is about his hard work: “He gave him a look, but Sobel’s bald head was bent over the last as he worked and he didn’t notice”. We can notice that he is not a materialist as he does not ask better wage: “Yet his conscience bothered him for not insisting that the assistant accept a better wage than he was getting, though Feld had honestly told him he could earn a handsome salary if he worked elsewhere, or maybe opened a place of his own”. However, in line 306 the real reason of his hard working appears: “‘Why do your think I worked so long for you?’ Sobel cried out.’ For the stingy wages I sacrificed five years of my life so you could have to eat and drink and where to sleep?’ ‘Then for what?’ shouted the shoemaker. ‘For Miriam’ he blurted – ‘for her.’ These lines show us that Sobel loves shoemaker’s daughter Miriam. Also, Sobel managed to combine his hard work with his hobby which is reading. But reading for Sobel was not only a hobby, but also the way that he could tell his feelings to Miriam and effect her feelings as well: “ In some devious way, with his books and commentary, Sobel had given Miriam to understand that he loved her.” The last lines from 349 – 358 show us that Sobel was sure about his love, and his love was so strong that he decided to wait two years more: “But the next morning, when the shoemaker arrived, heavy – hearted, to open the store, he saw he needn’t have come, for his assistant was already seated at the last, pounding leather for his love.” One more Sobel’s character’s feature is that he is trustworthy. That we can see in line 126: “Feld could trust him with anything and did, frequently going home after as hour or two at the store, leaving all the money in the till, knowing Sobel would guard every cent of it.” To sum it up, from this character sketch of Sobel we can see that Sobel was hard working, reading a lot and loving. And that love was so important for him that he even could wait for that love as long as he had to.

Raktiniai žodžiai

• character sketch
• character sketch conclusion
• the first seven years character sketch