Talk:The Rise of David Levinsky
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So I made this page a while ago, and never got around to finishing the chapter summaries. Kind of drowning in schoolwork. There are a total of 14 chapters in this book, but I only summarized 2 of them for the regular article. Pathetic, right? The author was a socialist, and portrays a successful capitalist as being unhappy with his life after achieving success.
This is a short summary of the other 12 which I feel are inadequate for the Wikipedia in quality. They might miss large things or overlap with other chapters, but I haven't looked at the book in a while and it's all more or less correct. As if the wikipedia was infallible as it is. Blah.
- Book III - I Lose My Mother
He fights with gentiles and his mother goes to set them straight, and they kill her. She is mourned, David is kind of parlyzed with shock and moves into the synagogue to continue his studies.
- Book IV - Matilda
He falls in love with the daughter of a rich family who had been supporting him in his studies. She kisses him a bit. Matilda provides a lot of fodder for talking about love later in the book and he doesn't get over her until a good while later. Matilda gives him enough rubles to leave Antomir and travel to America (without her mother knowing), and he goes. She makes him promise to get educated. The other people from the synagogue make him promise not to forget about god.
- Book V - I Discover America
He arrives and a man from the synagogue takes him under his wing, gives him a haircut (including cutting off his side locks, for "you can be a good Jew without them", new clothing, and puts him in an apartment with enough money to start peddling. He tries to seduce his landlady for pretty much no better reason than to see if he can. He peddles but isn't very successful. He moves, kind of stagnates for a while, then lives on the streets. He also visits prostitutes, having made a large change from his pious studies in Antomir.
- Book VI - A Greenhorn No Longer
Another man whom he met on the boat over sets him up in the garment industry and he slowly starts earning money and saving so he can eventually go to college. He displays a terrific talent for his studies but lacks the means to pursue education full-time.
- Book VII - My Temple
His temple is the city college which he wants to visit but can't because of the money. He keeps working in the garment business.
- Book VIII - The Destruction of My Temple
He "destroys" his temple by using the money he saved up to start his own business in the garment industry. One order he filled went to a company that went bankrupt, so he is terribly in debt. After a while, he gets a check from the company stating they had re-formed themselves, and he is sent his payment for the cloaks/coats or whatever. His business slowly starts taking off and he trades his studies for his business.
- Book IX - Dora
David Levinsky falls in love with another man's wife while boarding at their house. She reciprocates some of his affection, but doesn't go all the way. Her husband doesn't suspect a thing. He helps the kids learn to read and all that jazz. Eventually, they break it off and David gets his own apartment.
- Book X - On the Road
He set up his business to run while he goes across the country trying to sell his garments, and he goes on and on about selling cloaks.
- Book XI - Matrimony
He visits a marriage broker and is set up with some woman. His fortune continues to grow. He also has to deal with socialists because he doesn't pay his workers (mostly orthodox Jews) terribly well but they don't complain. He's set to marry this woman but then the next chapter happens.
- Book XII - Miss Tevkin
Since the woman he is supposed to marry belongs to a religious family, on his trip to visit them, he realizes he can't arrive so they'll notice he traveled on the sabbath, so he stops at a resort for a night. There, he is smitten by this chick, miss Tevkin, who doesn't want him. He still falls in love with her because he's been doing that pretty regularly for the past 400 pages, that is, falling in love with women who don't reciprocate his love. He breaks it off with his fiancee.
- Book XIII - At Her Father's House
He befriends their family and supports their socialist causes (she is a socialist) to try and win her favor. She marries some other guy.
- Book XIV - Episodes of a Lonely Life
He reflects on how lonely he is and wishes he had been a socialist rather than a capitalist. He says he isn't happy and in spite of the women who want him, the only girl he can think about is miss tevkin.
