Shosha: Analysis of Major Characters
"Shosha" is a novel that vividly explores the lives of its major characters against the backdrop of pre-World War II Poland and post-war America. The narrative is centered around Aaron Greidinger, a vegetarian writer and the son of a rabbi, who faces the complexities of love, loss, and identity. As he navigates his youthful ideals and the looming threat of Nazism, Aaron becomes romantically entangled with his childhood sweetheart, Shosha Schuldiener, whose beauty and devotion deeply impact him despite her personal struggles and tragic fate.
The novel also features a host of significant characters, including Morris Feitelzohn, a witty yet unemployed philosopher who influences Aaron's perspective, and Betty Slonim, an American actress whose tumultuous relationship with Aaron reveals the tensions between ambition and emotional connection. Sam Dreiman, Betty's wealthy lover, plays a pivotal role in providing financial support, while Celia Chentshiner offers a glimpse into intellectual debates and moral complexities through her brief affair with Aaron.
These characters collectively illustrate the intricate interplay of love, artistic aspiration, and the harsh realities of their historical context, making "Shosha" a poignant reflection on human relationships amid societal upheaval. The story culminates in profound themes of resilience and the enduring quest for connection, leaving readers to contemplate the fates of those they have come to know.
Shosha: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Isaac Bashevis Singer
First published: Neshome Ekspeditsyes, 1974 (English translation, 1978)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Warsaw, Poland, and Tel Aviv, Israel
Plot: Historical realism
Time: 1914–1952
Aaron Greidinger, nicknamed Tsutsik, a vegetarian writer who narrates the events of the novel from his humble beginnings as a rabbi's son on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw to post-World War II New York. Young and idealistic despite his poverty and the growing menace of Nazism in Poland, Aaron must grapple with recurring bouts of despair that naturally result when he, his friends, and his country cannot live up to his high illusions. He nevertheless maintains his belief in a Supreme Power. Red-haired, balding, and sexually attractive to women of all classes, he engages in a series of brief affairs, finally marrying his childhood sweetheart even though he risks his career and very life to do so. After a temporary stint as an aspiring playwright supported by a wealthy patron, he makes a meager living writing articles and serialized biographies for a Yiddish newspaper, thereby acquiring a measure of fame. He escapes from Poland before the Holocaust and relates at the end of the novel the fate of the other characters.
Shosha Schuldiener, Aaron's childhood sweetheart, who becomes his wife. A blonde, blue-eyed beauty, she is physically and mentally stunted. An academic failure, she still manages to attract the intellectual boy Aaron with her total acceptance of and devotion to him, and he has never forgotten her, despite their early separation. When they meet as adults, he reaffirms his love for her, and they marry in the face of others' incredulity at this seeming mismatch. She matures in the marriage, displaying unusual insight in her philosophical discussions with Aaron and eventually disarming and winning over his friends with her simple charm. She remains compulsively dependent on Aaron, continually voicing fears of separation from him and her family. She dies while fleeing Poland, having lost her will to live as a result of this violent upheaval.
Morris Feitelzohn, a writer and philosopher who takes an interest in Aaron and whom Aaron greatly admires. Stocky and square-faced, with bushy eyebrows and thick lips, he is witty, debonair, and chronically unemployed, constantly borrowing money from his friends. At the Writers'Club and various other meeting places, he engages Aaron in lengthy conversations that explore almost every known philosophy, though he subscribes to none of them. He introduces Aaron to several of the novel's major characters and thus initiates much of the plot. He dies in Warsaw in 1941.
Betty Slonim, an American actress in her early thirties. She is in Poland with her wealthy lover to find a play for the Yiddish stage in which she can star. Red-haired and extremely attractive, she is immediately drawn to Aaron, with whom she shares the story of her Russian Jewish background and generally hard life. Aaron is hired to write a play for her, but she sabotages his work by demanding that he spend his time accompanying her around Warsaw; they soon become lovers. Her constant suggestions concerning the play and revisions of it render it a disaster before it can even open. Far from abandoning Aaron, she wishes to marry him and thus ensure his safety in America. He rejects her, though, for Shosha. Brittle, cocky, and with little self-esteem, she ends up married to an American officer who is instrumental in smuggling Aaron out of Poland. She eventually commits suicide, which she has threatened throughout the story.
Sam Dreiman, an American millionaire who is Betty's lover. A vigorous old man with a shock of white hair and a broad face and body, he is essentially a father figure to Betty. He is alienated from his wife and children, who have disappointed him. The fortune he has made in construction is now devoted to Betty's happiness. He finances the writing of Aaron's play. When it dissolves into chaos, he is incensed at Aaron for Betty's sake. When he falls gravely ill in Warsaw, it is he who proposes that Betty marry Aaron and that they become joint heirs in Sam's will.
Celia Chentshiner, a wealthy, sophisticated intellectual who is an avowed atheist and with whom Aaron has a brief affair. She is severely proper in her appearance but warmly gracious as a hostess.
Haiml Chentshiner, Celia's childlike and independently wealthy husband, who survives the war and remarries several years after his wife's death. Aaron meets him in Israel at the story's end, and Haiml delivers the poignant and philosophical last words of the novel.
Dora Stolnitz, Aaron's first mistress. A fanatic communist, she persists in her ideology even when presented with evidence of its treachery.
Tekla, Aaron's buxom housemaid and mistress, a peasant who serves him devotedly and for whom he finds a job at the Chentshiners'.