He could not bring
himself to say a word to her of direct encouragement, but he
kissed her before she went, telling her that she was a good girl,
and bidding her have no care as to the house in the Kleinseite. As
long as he lived, and her father, her father should not be
disturbed.
Anton, being more a businessman than a lover, at times behaves
insensitively toward Nina. Otherwise, throughout the novel, the Jewish
characters act with honesty and kindness. Even the Jewish maiden who
wants to marry Anton does not scheme to break up his engagement to Nina
but rather befriends Nina and eventually saves her life. One has to
wonder whether Trollope intended this contrast to induce his readers to
reconsider their prejudices. Consider his perception of his duty as a
writer:
. . . And the criticism [of my work offered by Hawthorne],
whether just or unjust, describes with wonderful accuracy the
purport that I have ever had in view in my writing. I have always
desired to 'hew out some lump of the earth', and to make men and
women walk upon it just as they do walk here among us,--with not
more of excellence, nor with exaggerated baseness,--so that my
readers might recognise human beings like to themselves, and not
feel themselves to be carried away among gods or demons.
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