How we cite our quotes: Story Number.Paragraph
Quote #10
The constable took his time. He smoked a leisurely cigarette, blew out the smoke, spat, and said to me, "How much time do you think you need, Tevel, to sell your house and all your things? […] I've come to tell you that you must leave the village. […] It isn't me sending you away," he said. "It's the provincial government. […] Anatevka, which was a village and now has officially become a town, so we can drive all, all of you Jews from here." (9.26-32)
How's that for the power of the state? Also shocking is the legalese that covers everything in an official and normal-sounding framework—like they have to first recategorize the little village, so that then when it's a town, the laws against Jews living there can be enforced. Looney tunes.