What are the motifs in Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories by Sholem Aleichem?

Tradition confronted by modern ways is a recurring idea. Tevye is directly confronted with modern ways and practices as against the traditions that he is used to when marrying his daughters. Tevye repeatedly goes to Efrayim the Matchmaker to arrange marriages for his daughters, but except for the case of Beilke, these arranged marriages are rejected. A horrible test for Tevye is when his daughter Chava falls in love and marries the non-Jew Chvedka. Tevye is tempted to reconcile with his daughter, but cannot since Chava has married out of her religion. In fact, because there are no civil marriages at the time, Chava must be married by a priest and presumably becomes part of the Christian community.