Emotional Devotion to Pets ( “Tapka”)
Rita is sensitively attached to Tapka. Mark explains, “During our first month in the building, Tapka was in quarantine and I saw her only in photographs. Rita had dedicated an entire album to the dog, and to dampen the pangs of separation, she consulted the album daily.” Rita is affected when Tapka is quarantined. Fortunately, the Tapka’s photos in the album enable Rita to cope up with the anxiety of being separated from Tapka.
Similarly, Mark is emotionally involved with Tapka, before meeting him. Mark confesses, “Through the photographs I became attached to Tapka and projected upon her the ideal traits of the dog I did not have. Like Rita, I counted the days until Tapka’s liberation.” Mark’s declaration, even though he does not own Tapka, confirms that human beings can build up deep-seethed connections with pets. Rita and Mark’s anticipation of Tapka’s release from quarantine is a delineation of the yearning to have Tapka close by.
Stumbling Blocks in Mastering English
In “Tapka” Mark’s and Jana’s parents take “obligatory classes in English” at George Brown City College. Correspondingly, the Nahumovyskys, regardless of being in fifties, partake the English classes as well. Mastering the English class is not unproblematic though.
By the same token, the narrator’s father in “Roman Berman, Massage Therapist” finds it grueling to be adept in English. The narrator observes, “He (his father) was approaching fifty, and the English language was more an enemy than an instrument.” The narrator equates English to an enemy to give emphasis to his father’s unawareness of the language. The narrator’s father must tackle the language like one would face an adversary because it is obligatory for him to get a certificate that would permit him to go into private business.
Antisemitism
In ,“Tapka”,David Bezmozgiz delves in the social construction of anti-Semitic ideologies. In “Tapka” Mark recalls, “In a first-grade classroom a teacher calls on her students and inquires after their nationality. “Sasha,” she says. Sasha says, “Russian.” “Very good,” says the teacher. “Arnan,” she says. Arnan says, “Armenian.” “Very good,” says the teacher. ..And then she asks Dima. Dima says, “Jewish.” “What a shame,” says the teacher, “so young and already a Jew.” The teacher’s rejoinder to Dima has connotations of antisemitism. The teacher loathes Jews; thus, her prejudice informs the words that she pronounces after Dima affirms that she is “Jewish”. The teacher’s declaration relating to the indignity of being a Jew can be contributory in fashioning her students’ presumptions about Jewish people.
Furthermore, to make evident the noxious magnitudes of anti-Semitism, the narrator in “Roman Berman, Massage Therapist” talks about how “ Freda and Genady told their story of being refuseniks…Genady lifted up his shirt to show everyone the place where he had been stabbed by former coworkers…Walking down the street one night, he stumbled upon some drunken comrades from the factory. They called him a filthy Jew traitor and the foreman went after him with a knife.” Genady’s experience as a refusenik uncovers the exposure of the Jews. Jews are looked upon as conspirators by the non-Jews ; as a result, they are predisposed to assaults that could culminate in murder.
