Begin your group's discussion by reconstructing the plot of "How It Was Done in Odessa," which can be hard to glean on your first reading. Work together to compose a short (around 1/2-page single-spaced) summary of the plot.
When you are done with that, discuss the following questions and answer each with a couple of sentences (written collaboratively with your group members). Post your responses as a comment on this post.
1. Benya Kirk's funeral oration seems to express sympathy with the communist revolution. Why does Babel have Benya Kirk express these sympathies? Why do you think Babel saves this until the end of the story?
2. Why does Little Lisping Mose call Benya Kirk a king? Why is it significant that it is this character who gives Benya the title?
3. Benya has constructed the funeral scene so that it serves as a joint service for Joseph and Savely Butsis. Who is the funeral really for?
4. What is the point of Benya's comment about drinking vodka on pages 80-81?
If you have time, also try articulating "the point" of the story in a sentence or two.
Haley Wolfinger, Hannah Chong, Treesa Ouseph, & Prit Patel
ReplyDelete1. He wanted to get the sympathy of the people, and gain their respect. He showed respect to Joseph in his death, and therefore gain their favor. He asserted his power to instill fear and respect from the people.
2. Little Lisping Mose calls Benya the King to acknowledge his power. It is significant that he first calls Benya the King, because he represented the opinion of the lower people. It shows that Benya is instilling authority from the bottom of the social ladder up.
3. Tartakovsky, because it is the end of his power.
4.On the surface, Benya just seems to be saying that the man who murdered Joseph was drunk, but he seems to imply that if you play your cards right then you will come out on top, in analogy of Benya’s success and Tartakovsky’s downfall.
point: Because Benya took a more cunning and successful approach he came out on top, but others such as Tartakovsky was being overconfident and caught up in his extravagant lifestyle which led to his downfall and the death of one of his closest men.
At the beginning of the story, two old men are sitting on the wall disussing the rise of a Jewish mobster in Russia, Benya Krik. The readers are then introduced to Tartakovsky, a banker, that has already been robbed nine times. Tartakovsky strikes back at them after faking his own death. After Benya writes a letter to Tartakovsky asking him to leave money somewhere, and receives no response he goes to rob him. Benya Kirk goes to rob Tartakovsky, but he is not there. In the middle of the robbery, a drunk henchman shows up and shoots the clerk at Tratakovsky’s bank. This upsets Benya because he wasn’t planning on killing anyone. Both Benya and Tratakovsky go to the dead clerk’s mothers house. They agree that Benya will pay the clerk’s mother 5000 rubles and then 50 per month as well as paying for a nice funeral for him. The funeral takes place the next morning and it is really nice. Benya reveals that he killed Savka, the drunk henchman that killed the clerk.
ReplyDelete1. Krik's speech is symbolic of the Communist Revolution. Kirk is trying to paint himself as an embodiment of the revolution. He proclaims that he rid the people of filthy capitalism and that he is trying to do good. This is saved until the end because it is symbolic of how people don't know what was happening until it was too late, much like in the story.
2. Krik is described as a king, because like kings he controls many people and is somewhat above the law.
3. The funeral is really for Benya Krik. He speaks at the funeral of someone that he helped kill and is simultaneously trying to display his power and convince the people that he is trying to help them.
Odessa Summary: GROUP 7
ReplyDeleteThe narrator is an older man who is speaking with an acquaintance and asking him about Kirk. He wonders what qualities and attributes made him the King. The story then goes into detail about Kirk’s life and how he gained respect and power.
He came from a poor family, but wanted to prove himself, so he sent a letter to Tartakovsky, asking him for a meeting. Tartakovsky replied, but sent his message to the wrong address. Thinking that he had been ignored, Kirk and his gang rob Tartakovsky’s shop. One of Kirk’s drunken gang members accidently shoots the clerk, and he is killed. Kirk tries to make up for this mistake by providing money and a comfortable life for the aunt of the dead clerk by convincing Tartakovsky to help him pay her a monthly allowance. The boy’s funeral is extravagant and Kirk makes a speech on his behalf. He also reveals that the man who shot the clerk was also dead for his mistakes. He spares no expense at the funeral, and makes his entrance and exit in an expensive car, thus proving to the people that he would be a strong and powerful leader.
Afterward, Lisping Mose, a young boy in attendance, declares that Kirk must be a King. The term stuck, thus earning Kirk respect and admiration among the common people.
1. Kirk says this because it’s a smart, powerful political move. He’s making it clear what side he’s on, and which side of the revolution he predicts to be the winning side. Kirk says this at the end of the story, because at this point he’s finally made a name for himself and wants appear more likable to the middle class people around him.
2. Mose calls Kirk a King because he painted himself to be a leader by making a speech and making a glamorous exit from the funeral. It’s significant that Mose said this because children usually have a more innocent, unbiased perspective of the world.
3. The funeral is symbolic, and isn’t actually for the two dead men at all. It’s more of a power move for Kirk to make his debut as a powerful leader for average people.
4. Kirk’s comment about vodka is a metaphor for power. He is implying that he knows how to wield power and that joy for the common people will result from his leadership. The man who killed the clerk is dead, because Kirk is just and didn’t tolerate his careless mistakes
The point…
The story opens with an unmanned man asking why Kirk was called the King. The flashback reveals that only ambition and careful manipulation can earn you what you want, rather than just sitting on a wall as the narrator does.
Group 4
ReplyDelete1. Benya Kirk is a dictator himself and knows what he has to do to get ahead, he wants to have the power to dictate all. And to get ahead, Benya Kirk knows he must connect with the people, he must convince them that he truly feels these sympathies. Babel saves it until the end of the story because it was a large gathering of people and it was the place he had the most power to express his sympathies.
2.Little Lisping Mose expressing her view of Benya is significant because it shows the innocence and malleable mindsets of the townspeople. They see merely the outside of situations due to the strict and huhs-hush attitudes of the gangsters.
3. The service is for neither Joseph nor Savely Butsis, instead it is for Benya Kirk. He puts on the funeral to make himself look better and gain political status.
4. Maybe the point of the comment is to say that Benya Kirk really doesn’t know what he is doing when he gains political power and he doesn’t know how to rule the people, because he came into power through dishonorable means. But at the same time he is going to put up the appearance that he knows exactly how to rule the people and they will never know the difference.
Group 3
ReplyDeleteSamantha, Sarah, Olivia, Preeya
1. Babel saves the oration until the end of the story, to serve as a framework for his thoughts about the current situation in Russia. The funeral is a large setting and it would be a good place to express his thoughts as more people hear about it. He seeks to serve as a leader or dictator and wants to instill his thoughts and feelings in the common people, and speaking at the funeral is a good political move. He elaborates on workers compensation, in which he explains that Joseph died for the whole working class.
2. Little Lisping Mose calls Benya Kirk a king because of his dramatic speech at the funeral, which reveals the sort of leadership quality that Benya has. This is significant because children are alert and observant to their surroundings, in which Mose represents the opinion of a particular class in Russia – the less privileged. It shows that Benya is very persuasive in his plight.
3. The funeral is actually for Tartakovsky, ending his career as a merchant. After the shop closes down, he leaves. This funeral is basically the end of Benya as a mobster boss. He was for everyone getting an equal share. The funeral is a beginning of his career as a king.
4. Those who know how to drink vodka are like those who know how to truly live life. Those who drink vodka evens though they don’t really know how to are those who don’t know how to live life to the fullest. Even with that however they are live similar lives. Those who don’t know how to live life make those you do suffer their inabilities.
Prerak Patel, Harrison Bard, Degzong Yang, Andrew Trexler
ReplyDeleteBrief Summary of “How It Was Done in Odessa”
So the narrator asked Reb Arye-Leib, an old man, about Benya Krik, also known as the king. They are sitting together on the wall of a cemetery. The old man tells the narrator about Benya Krik, a young man who joined the Russian Jewish mob. As a first test, the Jewish mob had Benya rob a bank owned by a wealthy Jew that had been robbed previously nine times. The wealthy Jew’s name was Ruvim Tartakovsky, aka Jew-and-a-half, aka Nine Holdups. Benya sends a letter to Tartakovsky telling him to leave, what we assume is money, under the rain barrel. Tartakovsky responds immediately telling him that he wishes to be friends instead. We are told that Benya never got the letter.
Infuriated, Benya gets a crew together and robs the bank. While robbing the bank, Benya is talking to the bank manager, of sorts, while another mobster cleans out the vault. But wait, a late arrival to the robber team shows up drunk and shoots the bank manager, but it is not clear whether it’s an accident or not. As the mobsters fled the bank, Benya told the drunkard that he would be buried next to the bank manager. Benya does everything that he can to save the bank manager, without success. Benya arranges for Jew-and-a-half to pay the mother of the deceased a lump sum of money along with 50 rubles a month.
The funeral was a grand ceremony and the bank manager was buried with much flare. The service was also repeated for the Jew that had drunkenly shot the bank manager, as he was buried in the very next plot. We are told that nobody charged for the ceremony, not the choir nor the clergy. As they rode away from the funeral a small boy commented to the old man, who was telling this very story, that Benya was indeed “a king.”
1. Benya Kirk's funeral oration seems to express sympathy with the communist revolution. Why does Babel have Benya Kirk express these sympathies? Why do you think Babel saves this until the end of the story?
2. Why does Little Lisping Mose call Benya Kirk a king? Why is it significant that it is this character who gives Benya the title?
Little Mose calls Benya Kirk a king because he treated this man that had been killed by another man under his command as if he deserved as much grandeur as any person in the world, and this same grandeur was given to the man that had accidently shot the victim. It is significant that the littlest most insignificant character realizes that this mobster is somebody who is respectable and powerful,.
3. Benya has constructed the funeral scene so that it serves as a joint service for Joseph and Savely Butsis. Who is the funeral really for?
4. What is the point of Benya's comment about drinking vodka on pages 80-81?
If you have time, also try articulating "the point" of the story in a sentence or two.
Little Lisping Mose is talking with Reb Arye-Leib in the cemetery. Mose asks Reb how Benya Krik became king. Benya Krik is a very ambitious person and he went to the Jewish gang to ask to become a member and they told him that if he can get money from Tartakovsky then he is in. Krik writes a letter to Tartakovsky to threaten Tartakovsky to meet him and give him all his money. Tartakovsky writes back saying that he would meet Krik but he would not give Krik his money, but Krik never received that letter. Krik was angry that he got no response so he decided to rob Tartakovsky. Krik and his gangsters enter Tartakovsky’s store and rob him. Tartakovsky was not present for the burglary but his clerk Muginstein was there and gave in to Krik’s demands. Another gangster arrives late to the scene very drunk and shoots Muginstein. Krik is upset over Mugenstein’s wound and sets him up with the best possible care at the hospital, but unfortunately Mugenstein dies. Krik confronts Tartakovsky about Muginstein’s death and tells Tartakovsky to compensate Muginstein’s Aunt Pesya and pay for the funeral. At the elaborate funeral, Krik gives a speech at Muginstein’s funeral. After Muginstein’s funeral, Krik walks over to the grave of Savka, the man who had shot Muginstein. Tartakovsky closes up shop. As Mose and Reb recollect about the funeral they remember that at that moment they called him a king.
ReplyDelete1. Babel has Benya Krik express sympathy with the communist revolution to show that even though someone can say they are for the people and a part of the people, they can be using this message to manipulate the people. Krik wants the people to trust him and overlook the fact that this death is his fault. The entire story we see Krik as a sleazeball and a gangster, but at the end Babel shows that Krik can still act as a leader in the communist revolution even though we view him as corrupt. Babel is trying to show that communist leaders can be corrupt in their purpose for promoting the revolution.
2. He calls Krik a king because he is very impressionable and believed the words that Krik is working with the community. Little Lisping Mose calling Krik a king shows that Krik has established fear and authority from the bottom of the social class to the top.
Erik, Ellie, Kelsey, Robert, Lauren