"Wherever I travel now, there is always someone who knows your name. 'Are you the father of Asher Lev, the painter?' they ask me. It's a very strange feeling. Asher Lev, the painter."
Aryeh never truly approved of Asher's art and interest in art, but even so, he is proud of his son. He knows that people respect him and he draws pride from that. But on the other hand, he is also subtly questioning why he let his son continue a career in painting. By saying "it's a very strange feeling" he implies that he will never understand what it is like to be an artist.
I saw a folded piece of paper on the chair I had occupied earlier. I stopped and picked it up and unfolded it. It was a pencil drawing, a photographic likeness of my face made with an exquisite economy of line and without light and shade. The lower right-hand corner of the drawing contained a signature: Jacob Kahn.
This is the moment that Asher's life changes forever. He is given a gift by Jacob Kahn which represents so much more than he could ever imagine. He is finally able to pursue a career in art, and this picture represents his ability to do so.
Away from my world, alone in an apartment that offered me neither memories nor roots, I began to find old and distant memories of my own, long buried by pain and time and slowly brought to the surface now…. Now I would have to paint the street that could not be seen.
Reminiscent of a phrase Asher said to his father earlier on in the novel, he is now isolated from his community and forced to paint the feeling he recieves. This leads to his most contraversial works that eventually isolate him from his entire community. So, isolation is cyclical.
