Jews Without Money

After he becomes aware that he will never achieve his dreams, Herman begins to live vicariously through his son. While he always hoped that Mike would grow up to become a doctor, he forces Mike to promise that he will be successful in some capacity. These desperate pleas come from Herman’s attempt to make a success of his life. He accepts that he will not achieve success himself, so his dreams become diminished, and he hopes to achieve some semblance of success through the achievements of his son. Herman’s last gasps of optimism are further and further removed from his own self, reflecting the way in which even the most hopeful people in the poor communities must come to terms with the limitations that society imposes on them.

Mike makes the promise to his father, but he knows that he will not keep it. The words are hollow and empty, as Mike is forced to drop out of high school and get a job. He has to deal with the practical reality of being poor in that he needs money to support his family. His father knows that the promise is empty, and Mike knows that the promise is empty, but they both agree to the terms anyway. They cannot bring themselves to admit that the last vestiges of hope are gone. The trap of poverty has sealed them into their economic station, meaning that Herman will spend the rest of his life selling bananas and Mike will never become a doctor. The tragedy of the promise is that it is made in bad faith. Both men accept that it is false, but neither of them can admit this to each other. They have to retain something like hope; otherwise they will have no reason to live.

Out of this recognition, however, Mike develops a political perspective on his predicament. The hollowness of his promise is a moment of understanding, as he comes to recognize the ways in which the capitalist society has trapped his family and his neighbors. The poor people of the Lower East Side are not good or bad people; they are not fairly rewarded or punished for their deeds. Instead, they are ruthlessly exploited, Mike realizes, by the capitalist society in which they live. The novel ends on a note of optimism, but one which comes from a different source. Mike takes the themes of the novel, including the crushing nature of poverty and the strength of the community, and synthesizes them into a radical political ideology. He finishes the account of his early life with the call to the workers to rise up against their oppressors. He envisions a world in which the poor are not exploited by the rich. While he abandons his father’s dream of financial success, Mike develops a different kind of optimism, one that allows him to imagine a different, fairer society, free from the poverty that has defined his life.