A Wedding in Brownsville
by
Issac Bashevis Singer
(Summary)
Issac Bashevis Singer was a Polish – American writer
who used to write in Yiddish language. He received a Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1978. This story basically points out the emptiness, that overpowers the
protagonist of the story, that is, Dr. Solomon Margolin.
The
story starts with the portrayal of marriage as a burden in the eyes of Dr.
Solomon. Dr. Solomon was basically a Jew, who initially used to reside in
Poland where his family was killed in the holocaust that was enforced by
Hitler. Dr. Solomon ultimately escaped to America along with the other Jews who
survived the holocaust. In America, Dr. Solomon had been appointed as the board
member of a Jewish scholastic society and co–editor of an academic Jewish
quarterly. However, the brutal treatment that was imposed on his family in
Poland had an adverse impact on the mind of Dr. Solomon, he seemed to have lost
his faith in humanity and the fear of death often used to haunt him. Dr.
Solomon often used to keep thinking about his past memories, his first love,
Raizel, who was a beautiful Jewish girl and the daughter of a Jewish
watch–maker, Melekh. He also recalled that Raizel got married to someone else
which disheartened him at that time but she and her entire family was later
killed by Nazis. This thought further used to intensify his depressive
tendencies.
Dr.
Solomon’s wife, Gretl, was also a German, but she was anti - Nazis. Dr. Solomon
used to treat rabbis, refugees and Jewish writers without charging any money
from them and he also used to provide medicines and hospital beds to them in
case of necessity. Dr. Solomon and Gretl used to live a life of simplicity and modesty.
Gretl used to manage all the household chores herself without ever thinking of
appointing a maid or helper. Sometimes, Dr. Solomon used to ponder about the transformation
of his wife from a German blonde to a Jewish home–maker. Even after originally
being a German, Gretl had begun to embrace Jewish culture and befriend Jewish women.
This was primarily because one of Gretl’s brothers was killed by the Nazis, merely
because he was a communist and he opposed the idea of exterminating the Jews.
The
story further begins to unfold. A Jewish wedding was about to happen in a town,
that is, Brownsville and Dr. Solomon had been invited to attend that wedding
ceremony. The wedding ceremony was of Sylvia, daughter of Abraham Mekheles, an
acquaintance of Dr. Solomon. Abraham Mekheles was a Senciminer, that is, he too
belonged to Sencimin (a small town in Poland) just like Dr. Solomon. However,
Dr. Solomon was hesitant in attending that wedding ceremony because he was
making attempts to distance himself from the Jewish community. This is because,
Dr. Solomon had begun to feel that the Jews did not maintain the trueness of their
culture after they had gone to America. Dr. Solomon used to feel that the Jews
were breaking their cultural legacy, for instance, Jewish men had started
consuming alcohol in excess. This drove Dr. Solomon away from his own
community. Gretl noticed her husband’s aloofness from his own community. But
since Dr. Solomon occupied a prominent position in Jewish community, therefore,
he finally decided to attend the wedding ceremony in Brownsville. He hired a
taxi to reach Brownsville. Suddenly, the taxi in which Dr. Solomon was going to
Brownsville, stopped abruptly and Dr. Solomon witnessed that an accident had
taken place on that road. A man was being taken on a stretcher and Dr. Solomon
apparently seemed to recognize that person. Nevertheless, the driver again
started driving the taxi and finally, Dr. Solomon reached the wedding
destination, that is, Brownsville. Upon reaching there, he discovered that the
wedding venue was full of mirth and festivity, ladies were dancing around and
people were getting drunk. He came across Zissel, a person from his hometown,
who narrated the old stories that described the brutal way in which the Jews were
killed by the Nazis. He described that the Jews were compelled by the Nazis to dig
their own graves and then those Jews were shot and buried in the graves that
were dug by themselves. Many Jews were starved to death, burnt alive and many
were transported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland which had over 40
extermination camps. Each camp was filled with poisonous gases in order to kill
the Jews mercilessly.
Dr.
Solomon felt suffocated when he recalled the ways in which the members of his
community were killed and suddenly, he saw the face of a lady amidst the chaos
of people. When he tried to get closer to that lady in order to recall who she
was, that lady turned out to be his long–lost love, Raizel. He went ahead to
confront Raizel and shockingly discovered that it was not a dream rather Raizel
was really there at the wedding venue. The old romance between Dr. Solomon and
Raizel rekindled. Dr. Solomon held the hand of Raizel and took her away from
the crowd of people. Dr. Solomon did not want to lose Raizel amidst the chaos
of life all over again. A thought came to Dr. Solomon, that he was still single
according to Jewish Law as he got married to Gretl in a civil ceremony.
Therefore, he took Raizel in a secluded place and expressed his desire to get
married to her. He needed only a penny in order to get married to her. However,
when he searched for his wallet in his breast pocket, he was surprised to
discover that he has lost it. Moreover, suddenly it occurred to him that Raizel
seemed much younger than the way she should have looked. Dr. Solomon started
feeling devoid of life, he was not able to feel the weight of his body and his
body seemed to be deflated as if his body did not exist. This made Dr. Solomon
wonder whether the accident and the body laid on the stretcher, that he
witnessed on his way to Brownsville, was his own accident and his own body. Dr.
Solomon was perplexed and wondered whether he was really alive or it was only
his soul that was floating on Earth in order to seek his long–lost love. He
also wondered whether Raizel was real or she was just a figment of imagination.
The story ends on the note of this ambiguity and finally, Abraham Mekheles led
his daughter, Sylvia, down the aisle for her wedding ceremony.
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