Other themes are, of course, embedded in Malamud's short fiction, such as the nature and quality of love, political oppression, financial acquisitiveness, art, and literature. In "Idiots First," Malamud depicts filial love — a father's devotion to his mentally retarded son — in a moving and compassionate way that strongly contrasts with the more tortured portraits of failed filiality in "My Son the Murderer" or "God's Wrath." Sobel's love for Miriam in "The First Seven Years" invokes reminiscence of Jacob's love for Rachel in the Bible, and Nat Lime's love for Ornita Harris in "Black Is My Favorite Color" is as sincere as it proves hopeless. In "The Loan," the fractured friendship of Lieb and Kobotsky is mended, however briefly, when Kobotsky, swallowing pride, returns to ask Lieb to lend him money to provide a tombstone.....
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