A Summer's Reading / Bernard Malamud
Analysis of the Story: "A Summer's Reading" is the story of George Stoyonovich, a
19-year-old boy who lives with his father and his older sister, Sophie, in a poor,
immigrant neighborhood of New York City. George's father is a silent man who
works nights in a fish market; Sophie works in a cafeteria in the Bronx. Their mother
is dead.
George's life is not easy. He has dropped out of school and has no job or friends.
With no mother, an uncommunicative father and a sister away at work all day,
George is lonely. He lacks companionship, love and guidance. As in his immediate
family, a sense of alienation pervades the entire neighborhood, and George feels no
connection to the people there.
The family lives in a railroad flat, one in which each room leads to the next in a
straight line, like the cars of a railroad train, thus providing very little privacy. In
summer, when the story takes place, the flat, like the entire neighborhood, is
oppressively hot. The only place that affords any relief is the little park where George
spends his evenings dreaming of a better life.
The park is a symbol of what George would like his life to be like. It has green, leafy
trees and flowers enclosed by a railing. George's dreams are like the flowers – but
the railing does not allow him to reach them. In the park, George thinks of his life
and the menial jobs he has held since leaving high school. He dreams of having a
good job, money, a nice house, a girl and, above all, respect.
But although George aspires to take part of the American dream, he does nothing to
make his dreams come true. He is embarrassed at not having finished school, yet
does nothing to change the situation other than make excuses as why he cannot go
back. He craves respect, but does nothing to earn it.
In fact, the desire for respect may be the key to George's character. He left school
because he felt that his teachers had not respected him. The respect of the
neighbors and that of Mr. Cattanzara is vitally important to him and if, in the end, he
actually does succeed in bettering himself, it may well be because he has been
motivated by the need of respect – self-respect as well as that of society.
But for now, George is trapped in a vicious circle. On the one hand, he would like to
attain the American dream. On the other hand, he knows that this depends on
getting an education – and that depends on his own motivation. However, George
seems to lack the will. He seems incapable of setting goals and following through on
them. Everything he does appears to be done on impulse: leaving school, cleaning
the flat when it gets on his nerves and, later in the story, telling an impulsive lie that
may ultimately change his life.
The other main character in the story is Mr. Cattanzara, who works as a change
maker in the ticket booth of a subway station. A change maker is, literally, one who
gives change to those who pay for their tickets. It is a menial job that requires no
special skills. On the symbolic level, the term "change maker" may refer to one who
effects change in the lives of others, which, in the end, is precisely what he does.
Although he himself is going nowhere, Mr. Cattanzara serves as a catalyst for change
in George's life.
Mr. Cattanzara is different from the other people in the neighborhood. He reads The
New York Times (the newspaper of the intellectuals) from cover to cover. This can be
interpreted to mean either that he has no special interests or that everything
interests him. But although Mr. Cattanzara seems more intelligent that the others,
he has not lived up to his potential. Life seems to escape from reality by drinking. Mr.
Cattanzara is fond of George and wants to save him from the same fate. When he
spreads the rumor about George's reading, it is to give him something to live up to,
something to strive for.
The names of the main characters have a symbolic meaning. George's family name is
Stoyonovich, which, in some Slavic languages, means "stands still". Cattanzara is
reminiscent of the Italian word for "chained". Both names are apt. Mr. Cattanzara is
"chained" to his station in life; it is too late for him to achieve mobility. On the other
hand, George, though currently at a "standstill", is nevertheless capable of social
mobility.
The title of the story is itself symbolic. On a literal level, it might refer to the reading
that George does that summer. However, George does not read anything of
significance. The picture magazines, old copies of the World Almanac and "yellow"
newspapers are practically useless for getting an education. The World Almanac is a
book of facts which is updated every year; an old copy, therefore, is worth very little.
The News and The Mirror are newspapers for the masses, not for the educated, who
would most likely to read The New York Times.
It is more likely that the title has a symbolic meaning. People "read" many things
other than books. They can read the future (in cards, coffee grinds, palms etc.), read
a situation, read the moods of others and "read between the lines" (intuitively
understand things that are unstated). Therefore, "A Summer's Reading" can be
interpreted to mean that George has read "the writing on the wall", that he has
begun to understand his situation and what the future holds for him unless he takes
matters into his own hands.
There are three meeting in the story between George and Mr. Cattanzara. In the first
meeting, Mr. Cattanzara asks George questions about what he has been doing.
Ashamed of being unemployed, and in order to impress Mr. Cattanzara, George lies
and says he is reading one hundred books. He continues with his usual routine, but it
doesn't take long before he begins to notice that people in the neighborhood have
started treating him with respect. Even his father and Sophie seem proud of him. The
appeals to George at first, but as time goes on he begins to fear that the truth will be
discovered. He knows he doesn't deserve the respect he has been given and is afraid
of running into Mr. Cattanzara. When, by accident, he passes by his house one night
and sees him, he crosses the street to avoid any contact.
The story reaches its climax with George's third – and fateful – meeting with Mr.
Cattanzara. When the lie is exposed, George's life seems to fall apart. Having failed
both himself and Mr. Cattanzara, George is intensely ashamed. Mr. Cattanzara takes
pity on George and leaves him standing on the sidewalk, his parting words ringing in
George's ears: "George, don't do what I did". Mr. Cattanzara is warning George not
to squander his potential and waste his life. He shuts his eyes and only opens them
again "years later". Opening one's eyes may be understood both literally and
figuratively. The meeting with Mr. Cattanzara may have been a real eye-opener for
George, causing him to take stock of his situation.
After the encounter, George shuts himself in his room and refuses to leave his selfimposed prison. One night, he can stand it no longer. As he walks around the
neighborhood, he is surprised to discover that the neighbors are still friendly to him.
He realizes that not only did Mr. Cattanzara not tell on him; he suspects that Mr.
Cattanzara actually spread a new rumor – that George has finished all the books.
In the fall, when summer has ended, George goes into the library and, with an inner
trembling he can barely control, counts off a hundred books and sits down to read.
George's "imprisonment" in his room and subsequent emergence can be likened to
that of the caterpillar that emerges from the prison of its cocoon – transformed into
a butterfly. The writer may be suggesting that George has undergone a similar
metamorphosis. Like the butterfly, George may now be free from the constraints of
his narrow environment and ready to move on. Or, like the same butterfly that has
only a very short life, George's "flight" may be very short-lived. It is left to the reader
to decide.
The story is open-ended. We are not told whether George will ultimately succeed or
fail. George chooses the books impulsively, at random, rather than with any
particular objective in mind. This may mean that he will never be able to set and
attain goals; on the other hand, perhaps he will discover where his interest lie and
will move on to read more. Or perhaps a clue lies in the seasons. Autumn symbolizes
change. It leads to winter, with all its negative connotations; yet it is still a welcome
change from the stifling summer. Autumn is also a time of harvest. The author may
be implying that just as fruits that have reached maturity in the summer are ripe for
harvesting in the fall, so George has been growing up that summer, and it is now
time for him to "harvest the fruits" of his newfound maturity.