Chapter 1 Summary

At ten past six o'clock in the morning, a grocer opens his store, hauling in the milk boxes and serving an old Polish Jewess who has been waiting since six. She wants a hard roll from the bag at the door, paying him three cents for it. The grocer eats a roll with some coffee and gives charity to a starving family of a drunken mother.

The grocery store has hardly changed over 21 years, a poor grocery with a small delicatessen. The grocer, Morris Bober, grieves because his store is losing customers to the larger and more modern store across the street. Morris receives and pays for deliveries this morning. He feels entombed in this store. Morris' wife Ida enters the store as the morning proceeds; the two speak in typical Yiddish-flavored English, obviously Jews. Ida nags Morris quite a bit and he...