Tapka ( “Tapka”)
Tapka is representative of affection and connection. According to Mark, “The dog knew no hierarchy of affection.”Tapka’s ubiquitous presence in the Nahummovskys’ household confirms that they adulate the dog. If the Nahumovskys had not cherished the dog, they would not have moved with her “Minsk to Vienna, from Vienna to Rome, and from Rome to Toronto.”
Leash (“Tapka”)
A leash embodies love obstacles. Mark explains, “Proof (of Tapka’s love) could come only in one form. We had intuited an elemental truth: love needs no leash.” For Mark and Jana, Tapka epitomizes love; therefore, leashing her is one and the same with confining the love. The “elemental truth” stimuluses Mark and Jana’s resolution to unleash Tapka.
Rabbi (“Roman Berman, Massage Therapist”)
Rabbi is representational of empathy. The narrator recalls, “With the business grinding down to a state of terminal inertia, my father took the advice of some friends and went to seek the help of a certain rabbi. Others had gone to him before: Felix when he needed a job, Oleg for a good deal on a used car, and Robik and Eda for someone to cosign a loan.” The rabbi commiserates the problems of the Jewish immigrants. The appeal to sympathy persuades the rabbi to avail assistance that could aid the immigrants to disentangle issues that challenge them. Arguably, the rabbi is empathic, else, people would not have approached him on non-religious issues.
Kornblum’s house (“Roman Berman, Massage Therapist”)
Kornblum’s house is an emblem of achievement. According to the narrator, a “fully detached house was the ultimate accomplishment.” The house embodies the triumph that Roman hankers for since he and his family reside in a Pontiac.
