Kobe University Repository : Kernel
Title
Ironies and Characterization in "The Silver Crown" Seen
from the Viewpoint of Color Images
Author(s)
Shimazu, Atsuhisa
Citation
神戸大学国際コミュニケーションセンター論集,5:47-54
Issue date
2008
Resource Type
Departmental Bulletin Paper / 紀要論文
Resource Version
publisher
DOI
URL
http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/handle_kernel/81000974
Create Date: 2017-06-14
Ironies and Characterization in “The Silver Crown” Seen from
the Viewpoint of Color Images and Numbers
Atsuhisa Shimazu1
Introduction
As for the stories by Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), it is often said that those in the earlier
collections, The Magic Barrel (1958) and Idiots First (1963), are “richer, more arresting”
(Solotaroff xiv) than those collected in the later one Rembrandt’s Hat (1973). But at the same
time, “The Silver Crown” (1972), the story that the reader first encounters in Rembrandt’s Hat, is
highly evaluated. Robert Solotaroff comments that it is “one of Malamud’s best stories” (124);
Edward A. Abramson’s view is that it is “one of the best stories in Rembrandt’s Hat” (134);
Kathleen G. Ochshorn states that it “ranks among Malamud’s best” (220). Also about the theme
of the story, critics seem to agree that it is the “incomplete communication” (Solotaroff 122), or
“the ultimate and inevitable failure to communicate” (Ochshorn 221).
Admitting that such evaluation and interpretation of the story are appropriate, I would like
to point out the existence of ironies in it, which play the role of making its theme more impressive.
Furthermore, I will show that in order to produce ironies, original usage of color images is
employed. Finally, I will consider the characterization in the story which is associated with its
ironic pattern mainly by comparing it with “The Magic Barrel” (1954).
I. Ironies and the Role of Color Images
Color images are often seen in “The Silver Crown.” The title itself includes a color image
and besides that, a dozen of similar images appear almost more than once in the text. These
images seem not to be used purposelessly and my own idea is that the appearance of color images
prefigures Albert Gans’s commitment to, and trust in the fantastic world of Rabbi Jonas Lifschitz
as “a faith healer” (536) although he cannot entirely relieve himself of his doubts about the rabbi.
This is the expressive pattern inherent in the story and it is repeated many times so that the irony
in the climax may be all the more emphasized. In the following, I would like to observe
individual cases of the pattern one by one.
Gans is “naturally empiric and objective” and “non-mystical” (539) and what is more, a
1
School of Languages and Communication, Kobe University. [email protected]
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biology teacher, and so there is no room in his temperament for faith healing. In fact, when his
fellow English teacher recommends this, he only listens and “laugh[s] mirthlessly” (536) and
never gives any active response to her suggestion. Concerning this, it should be noted that no
color imagery appears in the scene. This relates to Gans’s indifference to faith healing.
Next, in a street in Bronx, he again comes across faith healing when Lifschitz’s idiotic
daughter Rifkele thrusts to him a card advertising the healing of the sick through the medium of a
silver crown. For a moment, he tries to avoid this, which response is no different from that to his
colleague’s advice. But afterward, in this scene, color images like “green,” “brown” (colors of
Rifkele’s eyes), “red” (that of Rifkele’s skirt), and “brown” (that of Rifkele’s sweater, 537) ensue
and Gans comes to take the card in spite of his former intention; “The teacher’s impulse was to
pass by her outthrust plump baby hand. Instead he took the card from her” (537).
Thus the appearance of color images causes Gans as a rationalist to get over his
indifference or distrust to faith feeling and to be drawn a step more to Lifschitz’s world as
“nonrational or irrational” (Solotaroff 123), or “supernatural” (Ochshorn 220). This pattern can
be seen also in the following development of the plot. It is also important that no color image is
rendered to Gans himself except the one used as an exaggeration (“Till I was blue in the face”
544). This aims to show that Gans’s behavior is influenced by color images occurring outside of
himself.
Although he finds out that the card advertizes faith feeling he has laughed at before, after
the color image “silver” occurs three times, he decides to visit Rabbi Lifschitz in spite of the
hatred he felt before; “Although at first repelled by the thought, he made up his mind to visit the
rabbi” (537). In addition to this, when he reaches the building that holds Lifschitz’s room, the
emergence of color images of “white” and “gold” (colors of letters on the window) helps him to
maintain his intention of visiting the rabbi; “Ascending, assailed by doubts . . . he thought of
turning back but at the first floor landing compelled himself to knock loudly on the door” (537).
Even after he enters the rabbi’s room, although he warns “himself to depart at once,” after he sees
“green” shades and “gray” beard (538), he takes an act of courtesy to him as a Jew by resuming
his removed hat, introduces himself, and personally requests an interview of him.
During the interview, Gans soon feels as if he were in a therapy room, gets disgusted, and
renews “distaste for himself for having come” (539), but after he hears Lifschitz’s explanation
about the crown scattered with “silver” (540,541) images and encounters “gold” (the color of the
frame of a mirror), “black” (that of Lifschitz’s’s suit-coat), “grayish-blue” (that of Lifschitz’s
eyes), “brown” (that of Lifshitz’s eye pouches, 539), and “purple” (the color of the covers of
Lifschitz’s book, 540) successively, he takes an affirmative stance toward the crown for the first
time by admitting that he is “considering this recourse even though it goes against the grain of
some of [his] strongest convictions” (541). Thereafter, with Rifkele’s disgusting behavior, the
“doubts of the enterprise” emerge within Gans again and the high price of the crown seems
“fantastic” to him, but after all, he gets overwhelmed by Lifschitz’s account which uses the
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“silver” (542) image five times in a row. As a result, he cannot reject Lifshitz’s stuff on the spot
and promises that he will consider the possibility of the crown seriously; “I’ll decide the question
once and for all tonight” (543). Moreover, his state of mind right then is described as “more
inclined than not toward trying the crown,” “relieved,” and “almost euphoric” and he wonders at
himself “not resisting strongly” (543). The emergence of color images brings about within Gans
such transition from indifference to commitment to the crown.
In the same way, when Gans goes to Lifscitz with the money necessary to order the crown
the next day, he cannot entirely rid himself of distrust and is “still uncomfortable about parting
with it” (543). But after hearing Lifschitz’s account given with color images of “white,”
“blue,” “purple,” and “orange,” he soon offers a carte blanche to him about making a special
crown; “If you can work it up for the same price, that’s up to you” (545).
Special notice should be given to the scene where Gans sees the crown with his own eyes.
First of all, the “green window shades” (545) of Lifschitz’s room are drawn and the room gets
dark, that is, the green image mentioned above disappears. In this atmosphere, Gans sees “[a]
silver candelabrum” in the mirror but he soon suspects that “It’s one of those illusion things [he
remembers] from when [he] was a kid” and decides that in that case he is “getting the hell out of”
(545) the room. This correspondence between the color imagery and Gans’s behavior seems to
be a reversal of the pattern that the appearance of color images influences Gans to commit more
to Lifschitz’s fantastic world. What should be considered here is that the color image occurs in
the mirror. In consideration of the fact that the direction in movement is reversed in a mirror, it
can be thought that the direction in influence the color imagery in the mirror connotes is a
reversion of that in the real world. This is true of the scene of Gans’s seeing the crown in the
mirror. In it, the crown gives off the “mother-of-pearl,” and then, the “silver” light, but as for the
color, its disappearance is more emphasized; “The sight lasted no longer than five short seconds,
then the reflecting glass by degrees turned dark and empty” (546). After having experienced the
momentary appearance and disappearance of the color, Gans promises to purchase the crown; “I
believe I saw. Anyway, I’ll take it” (546). In other words, the rapid disappearance of the color
gives more vivid impression to him. Anyway, the disappearance of the color leads to Gans’s
acceptance of the crown, which is also the reversion caused by the mirror. Furthermore, the
sight of Lifschitz’s room where “the single bulb in a frosted lily fixture on the ceiling [shines]
harshly“ while it is “night” (546) outside can be regarded as the reverberation of the fantastic
scene of the mirror where color imagery and its obliteration play an important role. If so, the
green image and its deletion mentioned above can be said to be the foreshadowing of it. Seen
from the viewpoint of the relationship between color imagery and Gans’s feelings, the scene of
the mirror, the only one touching on fantasy in the story “grounded . . . in the tradition of realism”
(Solotaroff 123), can be compatible with other patterns occurring in the real world.
From the day he pays for the crown, Gans begins to suppose that it derives from
“Hypnosis” and the next morning, awakes “cursing the rabbi and his own stupidity for having got
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involved with a faith healer” (548). He even thinks of reporting Lifschitz to the police as a fraud,
but after his own reflection in which the “silver” image occurs twice in association with the
rabbi’s serious work and faith in the crown, he changes his mind and decides not to give up his
trust in his sincerity too soon; “Although nervously disturbed by his suspicions, Gans felt he had
better not get the police into the act too soon” (548).
Then in the climax scene set on the Sabbath, the usual pattern that the appearance of color
images makes Gans approach the world of Lifschitz breaks down. On the Sabbath night, Gans
decides to “speak to him, warn him to come clean,” and even after color images like “silver” (the
color of moon), “yellow” (that of chairs), and “reddish” (that of Rabbi Marcus’s beard) appear
before him, he cannot detach himself from the condition of being “unable to unstuck the glue of
his frustration and rage” (549). Also in the scene where Gans finds Lifschitz and Rifkele,
although colors like “yellow” (the color of Rifkele’s skirt), “white” (that of her shawl), “pale”
(that of Lifschitz’s face, 550), “yellowed” (that of his notebook), and “gray” (that of his hands,
551) emerge, their relationship, far from being restored, collapses with Gans’s utterance, “I hope
he croaks” (552). It should be remembered that at first, the red image appears when Gans
receives the card Rifkele thrusts, the white one when he dares to knock the door of Lifschitz’s
room and when he agrees with Lifschitz to make a special crown, the gray one when Gans first
talks with Lifschitz about the crown, and the pale (grayish-blue) one when Gans first becomes
positive about the crown. It goes without saying that the silver image emerges in every scene
where Gans comes to trust Lifschitz. In a word, thus far, all these colors contribute to the
opening, the maintenance, and the deepening of the relationship of Gans and Lifschitz. Irony
means the distance between appearance and reality, therefore, the fact that contrary to the pattern
repeated so far, these color images lead to the collapse rather than the advance of their relationship
constitutes none other than the substantial irony of the story seen from the expressive point of
view. In addition to this, what is used by Lifschitz to authorize his account in the climax is a
“yellowed notebook” (551) as mentioned above. What should be compared with this is “a thick
small volume with faded purple covers” (540). Both old items are colored, but while the latter
serves to persuade Gans, the former fails to do so, and so the comparison of these two also lets out
irony. The irony brought about by the combination of the emergence of color images with the
rupture of Gans and Lifschitz is emphasized when the scene is compared with the one of Gans’s
indifference to his colleague’s recommendation of faith healing where there is no color image,
because the situation in the former scene is more negative than the one in the latter. Furthermore,
it can be said that in the climax, the relationship of color imagery to Gans’s behavior occurring in
the real world overlaps that in the mirror, which also makes the reader feel the distance between
appearance and reality. Seen from the viewpoint of the plot, the irony consists in the fact that
Gans releases his anger on the Sabbath, the day of rest and prayer, and that his father dies
although the crown is completed. Also from the angle of the correspondence between
expression and plot, the irony is that although the expressive pattern is reversed, the transition of
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the father’s condition from illness to death cannot be altered. As Ochshorn says, “This story is
built on many ironies” (221).
As a matter of fact, there is a hint to what happens in the climax. It is the scene where
Gans suspects Lifschitz of “Hypnosis” (548). In it, although color images, “a silver crown” and
“blackbirds” (548), appear, there is no description of the deletion of his doubt directly in response
to the color images. After all, incited by the emergence of “silver” (548) images, he refrains
from reporting Lifschitz to the police, but the lack of the description just mentioned predicts
silently the ironic development in the climax. For the impressive scenes like that of the mirror
and of the climax, clues are deliberately prepared, and so it can be said that even in the story of
seventeen pages, expressive devices worth the name of a literary work are dispensed.
II. Characterization of Albert Gans and Jonas Lifschitz
The fundamental cause of the irony described in chapter one is the defect in Gans’s
personality represented by his own inadvertent revelation of his mind, “I hope he croaks” (552).
That is, Gans does not order the curative crown from the pure feeling for his father. This is what
critics discover in the story. For example, Abramson says that Gans prays for his father’s
recovery not out of love but from “self-expiation” (134). According to Solotaroff, Gans’s
feeling for his father is “gratitude” at most, which is different from “consuming, suprarational
love,” and “self-interest undercuts the gratitude” (123). He also regards Gans’s “explosion” in
the climax as “the commitment to love of self” unlike that of Mendel’s in “Idiots First” (1961)
turned to “the value of the other” (124). Ochshorn also says that Gans does not love his father
but is “paying off a guilty conscience” (221).
On the other hand, concerning Lifschitz and his daughter Rifkele, Abramson comments that
Lifschitz is equipped with “qualities of faith and unquestioned love that Gans lacks” (135) and
Ochshorn explains that Lifschitz and Rifkele are “devoted to each other; they share the love
Albert lacks” (221).
I entirely agree with these views. In this chapter, I will show from the expressive
viewpoint how Gans’s mental immaturity is described mainly in comparison with “The Magic
Barrel.”
It is well known that Malamud uses a particular theme repeatedly in various novels and
stories, and my own view is that this manner of repetition also applies to imagery and pattern.
For example, Salzman in “The Magic Barrel” shows himself often to a Jewish young man and
teaches him what Jewish morality is. Such a behavior overlaps that of Susskind in “The Last
Mohican” published four years after. Even the names of these two characters are similar. Then
a bird named Schwartz in “The Jewbird” (1963) emits strongly the Jewishness like Susskind and
their common posture is standing on thin feet for a long time, which symbolizes the tenaciousness
of Jewish ethos. Because of these examples, it is not meaningless to compare “The Silver
Crown” with “The Magic Barrel.” In fact, both Abramson and Ochshorn point out the similarity
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between these two stories.
To sum up, the resemblance of characterization can be seen between Leo Finkle and Pinye
Salzman in “The Magic Barrel” and Albert Gans and Jonas Lifschitz in “The Silver Crown.” In
the following, this point will be discussed from the viewpoint of numbers.
Gans’s mental immaturity often reveals itself in the form of exposure of anger as his temper
is described as “easily irritated” (536) in the beginning of the story. To feel “annoyed” (542) by
Rifkele’s interruption of his conversation with Lifschitz is a childish demeanor and what is more,
as to his own inconsistency derived from his unbelieving but trusting attitudes toward Lifschitz,
he cannot analyze it logically as a scientist but only feels “irritation” and “flashes of hot and cold
anger” (543). Such bearing is immature and at the same time, even gives birth to irony. As is
mentioned above, there are many ironies in the story. In addition to this, Gans’s response to
Lifschitz’s question, “Do you love him? Do you wish me to make a crown that will cure him?”
(544) should be noted. To the question which spots his true feeling for his father, Gans only
shows “anger” (544). This behavior sets infancy on Gans’s side against Lifschitz’s insight. In
relation to these, what emphasizes ironically Gans’s immaturity shown typically by his short
temper is his job as “a high school biology teacher” (536). As a biologist, it is essential for him
not to be shaken by emotions but to analyze logically and to meet unexpected situations calmly.
On the other hand, since he is a teacher, he needs patience, not anger, to deal with
incomprehensible conduct on students’ part. As it were, his occupation has a role of doubly
stressing the defect in his personality. In this way, his occupation as a biology teacher is not set
in the story purposelessly but carries a function of throwing light on his psychological immaturity.
It is to be noted that Gans’s job filling such a role in the story is described with the number
six as “six years of teaching” (548). In the essay published before on “The Magic Barrel,” with
the help of the discussion given by R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, Geoffrey Wigoder, and Ad de Vries, I
point out that the number seven symbolizes the Sabbath of Judaism and is related in the story to
Pinye Salzman’s personal completion, perfection, and stability and therefore, that the number six
stands for the condition that cannot fall into such qualities, that is, Leo Finkle’s imperfection and
immaturity (Shimazu 11). The same is true of “The Silver Crown” where the number six
appears only once in the phrase mentioned above. In fact, Finkle’s career as a rabbinic student,
which implies his immaturity for his age, is described as “six years of study” (134). Even from
the similarity of the forms of words, the connotations of these two six’s is the same. Abramson
says that the common quality of “The Magic Barrel” and “The Silver crown” is “the mystery of
love” (135) and Ochshorn notes that both stories “[mingle] old world and new and [touch] on the
supernatural” (220), but my opinion is that such mutuality can be said about the detail of
expression like the use for numbers.
The same also applies to Lifschitz. Ochshorn sees the role of Lifschitz in the story as “the
mensch-teacher” (222) and this overlaps Solotaroff’s view of Salzman in “The Magic Barrel” as
“redeeming angel” (37), which confirms the likeness between these two characters. That is, it is
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common to both of them to “[want] only the best” (Helterman 133) for persons who seek a
solution of difficulty and to try consistently to help them enduring patiently the suspicions sprung
from them. Through such services, they display morality which is unfamiliar to other parties.
Such a situation is represented symbolically by the number seven as perfection given to both
Salzman and Lifschitz. In comparison with Finkle associated with the number six, Salzman is
described as “seven years” (137) younger than his wife. Likewise, contrary to Gans equipped
with six, Lifschitz prays “seven times over the silver crown” (541), and the candelabrum as the
herald of the crown supports “seven burning bony candlesticks” (545). The number seven
appears only in these two cases and is in contrast to six, that is, while six is related to Gans’s
occupation reflecting paradoxically his mental immaturity, seven is connected to the crown as the
embodiment of Lifschitz’s morality.
Besides, the significant number which emerges in “The Silver Crown” and not in “The
Magic Barrel” is five. The first and typical example is: “The rabbi, five fingers hidden in his
limp beard, assented” (542). First of all, it should be noticed that in the scene, Lifschitz is called
not by his name but by his title. Because the number five appears here with Lifshitz’s
occupation as rabbi, it can be thought to refer to the essential sacred book of Judaism, the Five
Books of Moses. In other words, it is the number constituting the foundation of the Sabbath
represented by the number seven. Furthermore, as for the crown, it is said that it “lasted no
longer than five short seconds” (546). The number plays a role not merely of showing the
rapidity of the deletion of color as discussed in chapter one but also of emphasizing the
unification of Lifschitz’s morality symbolized by the crown with the spirit of the Five Books. In
this relation, the scene should be noted where Gans asks Lifschitz to let him see the crown. In it,
Gans says that his time for seeing it “wouldn’t have to be for more than five seconds” (544). To
this request, Lifschitz answers, “What will you see in five seconds?” (544) First of all, contrary
to Lifschitz’s “five,” Gans’s “not . . . more than five” can be paraphrased into “at least five,” and
so it does not mean “five” precisely. In comparison with the “five seconds” in the scene of the
deletion of the crown, it can be thought that the expressive mechanism functions that gives
Lifschitz the property of five and excludes Gans from it. It is also significant that Lifschitz’s
commemt on “five seconds” finally leads to his claim that the crown stuff is above “a showcase
business” like “buying . . . a new Chevrolet automobile” (544) and bears humanitarian value. In
this sense, what the “five” uttered by Lifschitz connotes is that it is almost impossible for Gans to
understand the real worth of the crown related to the number five in so short a time as five
seconds. Another scene where five is used by Gans is that of his threatening Lifschitz to show
him the finished crown; “. . . either I see the crown in the next five minutes or . . . I’m reporting
you and your activities to the Bronx County District Attorney” (551). In the context of the scene,
the “in” in the citation is almost the same as “during” or “within,” and so the number in it does
not refer to the exact number of five. This also derives from the mechanism mentioned above.
Of course, in both cases of “not . . . more than five seconds” and “in the next five minutes,” there
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is a room for Gans to fall into “five” precisely, but whether it is possible or not depends on his
sincerity as a son and also a Jew.
To sum up, the numbers of seven and five given to Lifschitz relieve his morality fostered by
the Torah, and Gans’s position as a “nonbeliever” (541) who is insulated from the world of five
and cannot enter that of seven is represented by the number six. Such a condition is visually
shown by the contrast between Lifschitz and his daughter, residents of the world of seven,
“[rushing] into each other’s arms” (552) and Gans leaving them by himself.
Conclusion
In the first chapter of this short essay, I reveal the expressive pattern that supports the ironic
climax of the story through the assortment of color images. Then in the second chapter, the
characterization of Gans and Lifschitz that contributes to the final irony is examined through the
consideration of numbers given to them and through the comparison with a past work.
In any case, this story is a good example of the assertion that not only the plot but also the
expressive devices should be appreciated in literary works.
Works Cited
Abramson, Edward A. Bernard Malamud Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1993.
Helterman, Jeffrey. Understanding Bernard Malamud. Columbia: The University of South
Carolina Press, 1985.
Malamud, Bernard. Bernard Malamud: The Complete Stories. Ed. Robert Giroux. New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.
Ochshorn, Kathleen G. The Heart’s Essential Landscape: Bernard Malamud’s Hero. New
York: Peter Lang, 1990.
Shimazu, Atsuhisa. “Six, Seven, and Fish in ‘The Magic Barrel.’” Studies in English Usage
and Style 19 (2002): 10-19.
Solotaroff, Robert. Bernard Malamud: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1989.
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