An Analysis on a Short Story Called "The First Seven Years"

In William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" the two main characters go to great lengths for love. The main characters reject their parents strong disapproval for their relationship and continue to be with one another. Like Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Feld, the main character, in Bernard Malamud's "The First Seven Years", ignores and later resents the fact that Sobel, his employee, is in love with his only daughter, Mariam. Feld believes that Mariam deserves a boy who is well educated and financially stable. Even though Sobel has little formal education or wealth, he still offers what he does have to Mariam, his soul. Throughout "The First Seven Years" Malamud exhibits many literary devices such as symbolism, setting, and epiphany in order set up a well rounded theme for the reader. That a parents desires for his child is not necessarily what the child desires or needs.…