How we cite our quotes: Story Number.Paragraph
Quote #7
[The rich widow] confided in me her problem, her pain, her sorrow—Ahronchik! This young man of twenty was interested only in horses, bicycles, and fishing, and beyond that he cared for nothing—not for business or for making money. His father had left him a fine inheritance, almost a million, but he didn't bother to look after it! (7.7)
There's something so super-modern about this lazy young man and his bro-tastic existence of sponging off his inheritance rather than thinking about the future. Change the clothes, add a hip soundtrack, and you've got yourself an indie movie classic.
Quote #8
I realized that my Beilke had never seen such a spread on her father's table. […] I drank and looked at Beilke. I'd lived to see the day when God helped the poor and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill. But my Beilke was not to be recognized. She looked something like Beilke, but not really. I compared the Beilke of long ago with the Beilke I was seeing now, and it gave me a terrible feeling of regret, as if I had made a big mistake […] Ach, Beilke, Beilke, I thought. What has become of you? (8.71-72)
Again, wealth has a totally transformative power (just like when Golde is changed into a less crabby person in its presence earlier). So why does Tevye regret the decision to let Beilke marry this dude? It might be significant that when he's complaining, Tevye calls the mistake "his" and not "Beilke's"—like he's the one being left behind and unaltered by all the big changes in life.
Quote #9
In the end, besides losing everything, Podhotsur went bankrupt, had to sell all he had—the mirrors and clocks and his wife's jewelry. He had to flee his creditors at great risk to himself and become a fugitive, may it not happen to any Jew, and escape to where the beloved Holy Shabbes goes west—to America. That's where unhappy souls go, and that's where Beilke and Podhotsur also went. […] Now she writes that it's not so bad, praise God. They have jobs in a stocking factory and are "making a living." That's what they call it in America. In our language it's called "scraping for a piece of bread." (9.9-10)
So, yeah, obviously not too cool. But the reason we're throwing this quotation into the mix is to contrast the stories with the Broadway hit musical that these stories became. Sure, they nix a few of the adventures to make a leaner plot, but the real craziness is that the musical ends with Tevye and the gang deciding to go to America as the land of great hope and whatever. Um, as if! In reality, of course, turn-of-the-century America was not such a super awesome place to go for Russian Jewry—as evidenced here, where it's clear that only the most horrible of extreme circumstances could force anyone to end up there. So yeah. Might as well be going to Mars, as far as any of these people were concerned.