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Tevye the Dairyman Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Story Number.Paragraph

Quote #10

But then again, after all, [Chava] was still my child, and again the verse came to me, like a father pitieth his children. How can a person be so harsh when God says of Himself that He is an all-forgiving God! And especially since she had repented and wanted to return to her father and to her God! (9.77)

Tevye is torn between seeing Chava as a father sees a child, as an individual; and as a symbolic traitor to the very core of her identity as a member of his family and a Jewish woman.