The Rise of David Levinsky

David continues to peddle clothing and makes a friend in a man named Max Margolis, known as Maximum Max. Max and David become friends despite the 11-year age gap and Max’s status as a married man. Max tells David how to seduce women. Initially, David shies away from the idea, but the idea of winning a woman sinks into his brain. David begins to look at the women around him as prospects. He tests Max’s theory with his landlady. He rationalizes that there is love, like what he had for Matilda, and lust, a need to satisfy carnal hunger.

He makes more moves on his landlady; she thwarts him and tells him to seek out a younger woman. David then visits his old landlady to flirt; she is more receptive but still pushes him out. He then enters a period of unrestrained conduct with sex workers. He visits quite a few of them and learns more about politics from a particular worker called Argentine Rachael. He votes in his first election and sees money trading hands for votes.

David then enrolls in a public evening school to learn English. He studies with vigor under his teacher, Bender. David even determines to learn the gestures and sign language common to Americans. He practices whenever he can. He takes his teacher out for long rambling walks to practice his pronunciation and learn about City College. David begins to study the Bible in English to really get the language ingrained. He argues with his landlady about his kerosene usage for reading, but he settles with her by paying for more oil.

When his school ends, Bender gifts David Dombey and Son and a small dictionary. David becomes so engrossed in the novel and translating it that his cart business goes in the red and he is left penniless. He tries working as a bookkeeper, but hates it. He takes a job in New Jersey to teach Yiddish to a farmer’s wife, but soon they return to the city. Maximum Max offers David a bed and a job with him, but his leering at women who come to dance gets him fired. He continues to live on charity and credit while all the people in his life tell him to learn a trade. David moves into a music shop owned by a cantor at his synagogue. The man rails against the sins of the congregation. David continues to subsist on charity as he works for his room for the ill-tempered man.

David runs into Gitelson in the street one day. Gitelson dresses in fine clothing and seems to be doing well financially. He and David discuss their lives in America since their parting. Gitelson works as a tailor, though not for the man who recruited him. The pair go to an ice-cream parlor for sodas and continue their discussion. Gitelson boasts but maintains a demeanor of compassionate respect. He then offers to help David find a job making cloaks. David accepts, thinking of the job as a stepping stone to get to college.

A machine operator at the tailor shop Gitelson works for trains David on the manufacture of cloaks. David does not do skilled tailoring, but batch work for cheaper goods. He works from six o’clock in the morning until nine o’clock in the evening. The cloak trade is seasonal, so the men work hard for two three-month stints. They must make enough money to sustain them in the off seasons. David loathes the shop and the people in it, thinking himself superior to them all. He thinks of quitting, but the idea of failing at another job keeps him in the shop. Little by little, David begins to enjoy the work at the shop and becomes more adept at the machines. He still thinks of Matilda. He eventually comes to appreciate his coworkers and his teacher.

David still yearns to go to City College. The East Side population swells with Jewish immigrants, so the population of the college is primarily made up of young Jewish men. David becomes more passionate about making cloaks, finding ways to be more efficient by systemizing the production process. His teacher encourages him as they are both paid by volume rather than hours worked. David forms a friendship with another former Talmudist in the shop, Jake Mindels, who has a passion for Jewish theater. The two begin to attend the theater often, especially the performances of Madame Klesmer, the leading Jewish actress. Jake speaks better English but has not read as much as David. David finds him similar to his Russian friend, Naphtali. They resolve to only use English with each other.

As the cloak season comes to an end, David finds himself idle and reading more Dickens, taking up Thackeray as well. He believes Dickens is the better writer but loves Vanity Fair more. He takes up a library card and reads more and more. He continues his friendship with Jake until the next season. David manages to save $100 for the first time and becomes obsessed with having it. He opens a savings account. He prepares to get into college and leaves his job for a different cloak maker after a falling out with his teacher.

The cloak-makers’ union then calls for a strike. David joins the strike, though hesitantly. The manufacturers agree to the union’s demands, and the work begins. David dedicates himself to becoming a real American. He proposes to marry one of the women from the factory, but she knows he just wants to marry so she can support him while he is in college. Work and money lose all appeal to David. He moves to a tiny attic apartment and prepares to live on his savings while attending college. Mrs. Nodelman, his new landlady, regales him with tales of her son who opened his own factory. Meyer Nodelman, her son, and David meet. Meyer and David become friends, and Meyer asks David to teach him to read and write. Meyer pays him well for the lessons but soon gives them up as too difficult. David must return to the factory.

David spills his milk at work one day and the owner of the shop, Jeff Manheimer, chastises him relentlessly. David already detested Jeff, but the incident leaves David spinning in fury. David begins to think of exacting revenge. He notices another Russian immigrant, Ansel Chaikin, a talented tailor. Chaikin’s designs and skills contribute substantially to the business’s success. David realizes he could poach Chaikin and open his own shop. The idea roots in David, and he cannot stop imagining it: “I visioned myself a rich man, of course, but that was merely a detail. What really hypnotized me was the venture of the thing. It was a great, daring game of life” (223). Revenge no longer motivates David, but the idea of wealth and independence does. He convinces himself he could run a business and attend college, too.

David travels to Chaikin’s home. He does not enjoy Chaikin’s company but eventually brings up the idea of a business partnership. Chaikin seems ignorant to David’s advances, but his wife hears and engages with David. Chaikin’s domineering wife asks pointed questions. David evades what he can, playing with the couple’s small son. They talk about start-up capital, and David hedges, leading them to believe he has more money than he does. David justifies this by thinking all human interaction is acting to some extent.

David tries again to propose to his former coworker, Gussie. The two share an intimate moment while a band plays in the distance at the park. The two part, but Gussie writes him the next day, turning down his proposal. He returns to the Chaikin’s home. Mrs. Chaikin badgers him relentlessly about the money, but David continues to hedge. He begins to convince them the business will work.

David meets more often with Meyer Nodelman and quizzes him, seemingly hypothetically, about how he operates his business. Nodelman manufactures women’s clothing, but getting credit and securing premises translate to David’s goals. He gets a shop on Division Street, though Mrs. Chaikin hoped for Broadway. She continues to try to pin down David’s net worth. David opens a checking account and has Chaikin make some samples.

David travels to different department stores but has little success as he is such a small, new business. He makes no sales on his first day. Neither do the following two days. He finally makes a sale of 500 cloaks to a Western firm. He secures a loan with an American backer. The firm fills the order on time. He does not receive the money in the normal 10 days; he instead receives a notice that the company failed.

Mrs. Chaikin calls him a liar and a cheat when he tells them. She refuses to believe the business failed and thinks that David cheated them instead. David flatters her and convinces her to keep her husband working. David seeks out the man who helped him when he first arrived in America, but the man is no help. He despairs at the thought of not repaying the loan to the American Gentile. He realizes he will never go to college: “The spell of my college aspirations was broken once for all. My Temple was destroyed. Nothing was left of it but vague yearnings and something like a feeling of compunction which will assert itself, sometimes, to this day” (268). David despairs at the loss of his dream of education and the failure of his business venture.