Essay-The German Refugee From, Priya

To,
Bernard Malamud (Author of “The German Refugee”)
Hello dear Malamud, Even though I have studied lot of novels, short stories, and many other books, your short story “The German Refugee” has touched my heart. I liked this short story because it is true tragic story of a German refugee and second thing which impressed me is the way you narrated the story.
Always I liked reading true stories rather than imaginative stories. I have also studied many other stories of refugees and immigrants from different countries, but this story touched my heart because of its silent tragedy. I felt very sorry about the character of the story (Oskar Gassner). He is such a depressed person hiding all his feeling in him without expressing them in front of any one. I felt very bad about the misunderstanding among them, especially when he says ““I offered her to come with me here but she refused this ””and when narrator asks him the reason then he said”” She did not think I wished her to come”“. Most tragic moment was when he kills himself after getting the message from his Jew hater mother-in-law that his wife got converted to Judaism after he left her and came, against her mother’s will and then she was dragged and shot with many other Jewish families by the German soldiers.
Secondly, the most impressive thing about this story is the way of narration. I liked the way that author narrated the story. He explains some of the qualities and features of the character so beautifully like “Oskar was may be fifty, his thick hair turning gray. He had a big face and heavy hand. His shoulders sagged”. And also author explains about his English accent for example Osker said”“Zis” for “this”, “bezt” to “best”, “mistage”