In the beginning Eli seems focused and put together. Yet, we find that Eli is disoriented because of his wife, career and surroundings. He urges the ‘man in the suit’ to take off his black one and put on Eli’s green, lawyer suit. The Black suit makes Eli crazy because it represents old, traditional, European ways. By changing suits, Eli is making the man change his culture. The Black suit shows that the ‘man’ is not assimilated, especially since all the Jewish, traditional, males wear them. It represents their isolationism from the world. The men that wear the Black suits have their own attire, language and culture. Eli is persistent on getting the man a new suit. Mr. Tzuref re

On the surface we see that Eli is quite fortunate. He has a lovely wife, he is a soon to be father, good career and nice community. It seems that the Religious Jews are displaced and unhappy. We find this not to be the case. Here Eli has mental and marital issues, while the Jews, if left alone are very happy. The only reason the ‘man’ put on the suit was because he knew that in order for him to fit in and be respected in the non-Jewish community, is if he changes his identity. Eli gets very caught up in his battle to facilitate the man in the suit, because when his wife is having a baby, he is nervous and confused. He ends up very unstable because he has difficulty determining his true identity.

The community is quite disturbed that some strange individual comes to glance through and shop in their town. The town’s people don’t like change. They want to avoid it all costs. They are afraid of what could happen if their community changes. “Next thing they’ll be after our daughters.” (302) Eli’s wife, Miriam agrees with the rest of her neighbors that the ‘man in the suit’ should just leave their community. Eli is the only one that feels that justice should be served. He is just a “man in a suit” she would say. Yet, Eli knows that this man has potential to be like the rest of them, modern so he changes him into a green suit.

On the outside Eli has nothing in common with the man, but on the inside they are more alike than they think. They both need to change in order to fit in even if they themselves are not happy with their conversion. At the end of the

Some topics in this essay:
ELI’S STRUGGLE, Holocaust Black, Eli Miriam’s, Miriam I’m, Religious Jews, Jew Eli, ‘man suit’, green lawyer suit, lawyer suit, black suit, Jews Woodenton, green lawyer, eli feels, community changes, wife baby, suit makes, religious jews,