The Rise of David Levinsky

Though unnamed, David’s mother serves as the primary support character for the first section of the novel. David’s mother protects her son fiercely. She works all day to keep him in private school and fed. When she discovers that a Gentile boy from the nearby town has hurt her son, she marches to his family home and confronts his father. She shows compassion to one of the local fallen women but holds disparaging views of anyone who crosses her. Devout to Orthodox traditions, she keeps her hair always covered and pushes David to study the Talmud rather than learn a trade and earn money.

Her protectiveness of David leads to her death. When David is still a young man, she confronts a group of Gentiles who harass him on his way home from school. The men beat her so severely that she dies shortly after returning to their home. David has a difficult time reckoning with her death, and the Antomir community fears mourning her openly as they are subject to increasing discrimination. Mrs. Levinsky sacrifices everything, even her own life, for her son. Her relationship with David causes him to have an unrealistic expectation of women in the future. He keeps searching for the perfect woman, but no such person exists. David’s naiveté in female interactions comes from his sheltered childhood and his Orthodox upbringing.

Matilda, a recently divorced young woman, meets David when her mother brings him home as an act of charity. Matilda differs from most of the women David knows. She attended boarding school in Germany and speaks fluently in Russian. She teases the naive Talmud student, David, ridiculing his piety and orthodoxy. Matilda goads David into trying to seduce her. She then ridicules him for his sin. Matilda never returns David’s amorous attention, but she recognizes his potential. She helps him raise the money to emigrate, telling him to go get educated. She pushes David out of the nest of his home country and on the American adventure.

Years later Matilda comes to America as a passionate socialist married to a former Russian prisoner. She shows contempt for the man David became; as a prosperous anti-union businessman, he now embodies all the things she stands against. David feels a keen shame for his ostentatious wealth and lack of education. He brushes off her criticism but reanalyzes his position on socialism.

Max “Maximum” Margolis befriends David while he works as a peddler on the streets of the Lower East Side. He works for a group of dance halls. David describes him as a ”tall, large-boned man, loosely built. His lips were always moist and when closed they were never in tight contact” (142). Initially, David and Max remain mere acquaintances, but after David asks Max for a business loan, the two men become closer. Max invites David over for supper regularly. Eventually, David moves in with the Margolis family when they relocate to a larger home.

David’s friendship with Max takes a backseat when David discovers his attraction to Max’s wife, Dora. David’s guilt for seducing Max’s wife is tempered by Max’s regular affairs with other women. Max had no education and could scarcely write his name. He works hard to keep his daughter and son in school, even helping his wife Dora to get her education by buying her extra books. The two seem to have a genuine affection for each other, though there is no description of passion.

Max eventually discovers the relationship between David and Dora. He confronts David, who denies the whole thing. Max tells David he believes him but never contacts him again.

David’s obsession with Dora begins at their first introduction. He describes her as “too serious, almost angry […] [with a] clear, fresh, delicate complexion” (227). Dora works tirelessly to maintain Max’s home, care for her children, and keep up with her daughter’s studies. Dora learns everything Lucy, her daughter, does, keeping pace with her studies as she progresses through her education. Dora’s pride shows as she demonstrates her understanding of the English language and spelling.

One evening, Dora tells her history to David, with “profound frankness and quaint introspective insight” (300). David begins to think that Max is not worthy of her. He wonders if Dora knows how much Max cheats on her. David resolves to seduce her. The two carry on an affair. Dora ends the affair shortly after David offers her a diamond bracelet. She determines to stay with Max, telling David he must move out of their home. The two fabricate a quarrel, and David leaves.

Abraham Tevkin makes his first appearance in Talmud school when Naphtali reads his poetry to a young David. Naphtali regales David with the love story of Abraham and his wife, whom he seduced by writing her Hebrew poetry. Abraham Cahan, the author, has a history that mirrors Tevkin’s, including writing for socialist papers and leaning into the cultural traditions of Judaism.

David does not think of him again until he meets his daughter, Anna, in the Catskills. David then seeks out all the author’s work and then the author himself. David’s obsession with Anna drives him to make friends with Abraham Tevkin and support his periodical and real estate ventures. Tevkin tells his daughter that David is just a family friend. The two men become quite good friends, often passing hours in each other’s company. David becomes a fixture at the Tevkin family home, much to the chagrin of his socialist children. When David proposes to Anna, the friendship breaks irrevocably.