Sympathy For Oskar

During a time of strife due to the second world war a German man named Oskar moves to America to escape persecution from the nazis. In America Oskar meets Martin, a man sent from a university to teach Oskar English. Martin grows attached to Oskar mainly because he has sympathy for Oskar. In “The German Refugee” by Bernard Malamud, Martin has sympathy for Oskar because of their shared culture and Osker’s descent into poverty. To start off, Martin has sympathy for Oskar, as they are both of Jewish or at least Hebrew descent. The indicated can be inferred when Malamud states, “Oskar’s scribbled note that he was not well, and that he left Martin Goldberg all of his possessions. I am Martin Goldberg” (Malamud 448). The aforementioned quote can

He is forced to live in them because he was only provided three hundred dollars. He lives in a small apartment that is incredibly hot. This is made clear throughout the story, but it is stated best when Malamud states, “Oskar Sat on a box and attempted to fan himself with his meaty hand. ‘Zis heat,’ he muttered, forcing his mind to the deed. ‘Impozzible. I do not know such heat.’ It was bad enough for me but terrible for him”(Malamud 239). Martin can barely stand the heat, and he’s a young college man, while Oskar is an old refugee. Oskar is constantly being shown to be struggling in the heat. He has trouble breathing later, and the story begins with him in the dark trying to avoid the heat. Malamud even describes the apartment as, “stuffy, hot, dark hotel room…” (Malamud 238). This would make anyone sympathize for the poor old

In Germany before the Nazis took power Oskar was a respected and successful german poet, but when he comes to America, he is forced to live in squalor due to the fact that he only received three-hundred dollars to survive. This is not enough money, so he had to live in a terrible apartment and he lived off of the three-hundred dollars. The reader knows this because the text states, “Oskar Gassner, the Berlin critic and journalist, at one time on the Acht Uhr Abendblatt. They were accomplished men” (Malamud 438). This text shows that in Germany Oskar was successful, making his fall from this success that much worse for him. Oskar went from being a successful critic and journalist, with a family, to being a refugee in a foreign land where he doesn’t speak the language. Consequently, Oskar went in a downward social, economic, and cultural, spiral all of which finally crescendoed into his death. All of these depressing reasons are a huge reason as to why Martin would have sympathy for