When the Angels Left the Old Country

“He knew from experience that it was possible to appear one way and feel quite another, and had developed a sense for when a person was wearing not only their clothes but also their body as an ill-fitting garment.”

This excerpt details the thoughts of Yossel, a conman and minor character who briefly encounters Little Ash and the angel. Despite his relatively small role in the story, his perceptive analysis and “cold reading” of the angel provides a vital piece of character development, making it clear that the angel has yet to embrace the complexities involved in The Shaping of Personal Identity. At this early stage of the novel, the angel does not feel comfortable with a human identity and dislikes being constrained by the social expectations attached to gender, and Yossel instinctively recognizes this element of discomfiture.

“In America, Dinah could have dresses, nice dresses, for herself, that someone else had sewn, and she could buy sandwiches for her brothers instead of always eating soup, and she could go to dance halls.”

In this fanciful moment, Rose indulges in a vision of her deepest desires, not yet realizing the romantic intentions that underlie her thoughts. She wants to make Dinah’s life perfect, and she therefore holds an idealized view of America, imagining it to be a place in which the two can forge a new future and enjoy a range of luxuries. In this excerpt, she dreams of what she can give to Dinah, elevating her style and diet as well as presenting her with the opportunity to socialize.

“He would have had better luck had he shot the demon, because Little Ash, even with a soul to eat afterward, would have found it less convenient to dig an iron ball out of his insides than the angel had found it to simply wish the ball away.”

Although both the angel and Little Ash are mythical beings, the angel enjoys immortality in its pure angelic form and can wish away any danger to its person. This difference creates a divide between the two friends that the angel tries to bridge by becoming more human by taking on a name.

“Rose had shouted at her, screamed at some trees in the forest, screamed at the goats and Motl and her father, cried for three days, and then decided that she had never liked Dinah anyway and that Dinah, may she live to a hundred and twenty, could go hang.”

Rose does not fully understand her romantic feelings for Dinah, so she initially fails to realize just why she feels as though Dinah’s decision to marry a boy from the Shtetl is the ultimate betrayal. Faced with emotions that she is not yet equipped to handle, she resorts to blaming and condemning the girl she loves, raging at the thought of being spurned. Thus, her love for Dinah quickly turns to hatred as she tries to rationalize her unprocessed emotions.

“Little Ash considered human-made books superior to angelic books, because with a human-made book he could read ahead behind his study partner’s back and have more time to think of arguments.”

Much of the angel and Little Ash’s time together is spent studying religious texts. Because he has less magic than the angel, Little Ash must depend on human books to support his arguments. The passage also illustrates the fundamental differences between the two friends, for Little Ash’s competitive spirit leads him to read ahead, always wanting to win their arguments and be in control of their path.

“[A]lthough there were, among the gentile passengers, a fair share of [antisemites], none of them had an army at their back, and Little Ash was sure that should any kind of conflict break out, his people would, for once, be perfectly capable of defending themselves.”

This excerpt describing the conditions from the ship to America demonstrates the stress that Jewish immigrants faced everywhere they went. Antisemitic prejudice may be why they choose to leave Europe, but these hatreds endure in America as well, and the threat of such sentiments is never far from the minds of those making the journey.

“Uriel remembered everything Little Ash had told it about America, and felt almost annoyed with him for not explaining that there were sorrows there, just like in the Old Country. He had made it sound like going to America would be an adventure, a game almost.”

As Uriel becomes less angelic and more human, it exercises free will and the ability to think more than one thought at a time, analyzing the world around it from a fresh perspective. In this case, it finally understands that Little Ash manipulated it into coming to America, and Uriel finds itself hurt by the lies that skewed its perception of this new country.

“It had been thinking about this while it prayed, and feeling a little guilty for how delicious it was to be able to think of something else while it prayed. It supposed this must be how Little Ash felt all the time, in which case, no wonder he was so smug.”

Despite the practical dilemmas and moral quandaries that ensue, Uriel continues to develop free will and enjoys the sensation of being human. Its new ability to think of more than one thing at once opens its eyes to the experiences of Little Ash and helps it gain a new perspective on the demon’s actions and attitude.

“Rivke smiled and gave him another affectionate pat. ‘In that case, I think we’ll get along very nicely. Asher, wasn’t it? That’s an auspicious name. And with your cousin, you’re Asher and Uriel—joyful, and light of God. You’re bringing good fortune with you.’”

Grandmother Rivke recognizes Little Ash for the demon he is but accepts him because of her own past experiences with demons. Her mention of their names acts as a foreshadowing of the resolution of their adventure in America, hinting that their actions will bring peace and happiness to a suffering community.

“He had, therefore, had quite a lot of time alone during which to decide he was terribly homesick. He missed the quiet, and the market days, and the angel always finding him on Friday nights to make sure he wasn’t alone on the Sabbath.”

Uriel and Little Ash rarely separate, but when they are forced to do so at Ellis Island, Little Ash comes to realize how much he loves to be with Uriel. It is not only that he misses the peace of Shtetl, but he also depends upon the warm kindness and care of the angel, who never allows him to be alone.

“It had not occurred to him that they would have demons working at Ellis Island, and now that he saw they did, he felt very stupid. He had assumed they would have dangerous demons inside America, but the borders of America he had failed to consider. All that time spent planning, and he hadn’t thought of something very important.”

Little Ash’s encounter with a Christian demon at the border highlights the dangers and uncertainties of attempting to enter America. While many immigrants are preoccupied with finding jobs and homes once they enter America, this scene makes it clear that merely making the voyage and having the proper papers for America will not guarantee admittance. Thus, therefore the border, like the Christian demon, is a major hurdle for immigrants who come to New York.

“‘Herrings and potatoes,’ said Uriel. It wondered what a human would add to this. The food had tasted miraculous on its tongue, but that was because it had never eaten food while having a name before, and it had not realized that food was so flavorful.”

Uriel’s new experiences as a human continue to shock it, and its first true meal, in which it can taste the food, stands as one of its most exciting. It takes so much pleasure in the simple act of eating that it doesn’t realize that what it eats is not widely considered to be good food.

“What Little Ash found himself remembering now, to his own confusion, was what it had felt like to be trapped not by human laws he did not understand, but by a warm, solid mass of living creatures who shared his history and his name.”

As Little Ash confronts loneliness at Ellis Island, separated from Uriel, he longs for some semblance of community. He remembers what it is like to be with his family of demons but recognizes that he has left them in part because of their refusal to truly accept him, as his magic is not fully developed. His isolation at this moment represents the disorientation that many immigrants feel upon arrival, both missing the life they have left even as they long to create a version of home in which they will be truly accepted.

“Uriel tucked this second letter into its vest and went back out into the street. If it were truly welcome to America, it thought, it should not have needed to go back and forth so many times.”

While Uriel races around New York City to help its friends pass through Ellis Island, it must confront the reality of the city, which wildly contradicts its expectations. The angel comes to America naïvely believing that the country is a land of opportunity in which everything is easy, and Uriel is therefore shocked and discouraged to realize how cold and unaccepting New York really is.

“‘What’s going on?’ she hissed. ‘There’s something strange. And don’t think you can foist me off with some story about how I’m a girl and I’m too fragile and sensitive for whatever you’re doing, because I could beat you in a fight.’”

Rose is an intelligent, strong, and confident girl who refuses to be marginalized by the people around her solely because of her gender. In this excerpt, she challenges Little Ash, refusing to be brushed off and citing her identity as a girl for the reason he might try to exclude her. Her assertive tone and willingness to take on all challenges foreshadow her instrumental role as the plot moves forward.

“She was determined that they should not leave her out of whatever plan they had to rescue the mysterious Essie, girl accountant, with the freckles that, from looking at the photograph again the night before, Rose had confirmed were fetching.”

Despite harboring lingering rage and resentment for Dinah, Rose begins developing a crush on Essie in America, even though she does not fully understand what her feelings mean. The more Rose looks at Essie’s pictures and hears about her from the angel and demon, the more she becomes fascinated with her and committed to rescuing her, and this resolution places her on a path that leads to her eventual self-actualization when she finally embraces her LGBTQIA+ identity.

“The people outside the dance hall looked more happy than iniquitous. There were a few little scuttling sins here and there, but not as many as it had seen on the streets uptown. Perhaps the warm golden light from the windows was making them harder to see.”

The distinction between the sins of uptown and the neighborhood of the Shulman family highlights the disparity between the working class and the factory owners. Uptown is filled with those who make their wealth through the labors of others, and these people therefore accumulate more serious sins through their manipulation and abuse of the masses. This passage represents one of many in which the author superimposes a lens of Jewish belief and folklore over the more mundane setting of New York City.

“Uriel shook its head. ‘I have not been paying attention to that part of the paper, Ashel. I do not think it is about my papers at all. I only wanted to have a name, and it was the first name I thought of, because you gave it to me.’”

In this excerpt, Uriel mentions the part of its papers that lists its gender as that of a boy. The angel assures Little Ash that its commitment to its name is also a commitment to him, not an unwilling transformation through which the angel will forget its core identity.

“He came over to it and repeated the charm he had used in Warsaw, dabbing his own tears into its lashes. When it blinked, it could see tarry little prints all over the room and ranging out onto the factory floor.”

Little Ash shares his tears with Uriel to give the angel the sight needed to see the dybbuk trail. By doing so, Little Ash bridges the differences between them and draws them closer together with the strength of a shared experience. The scene serves as a metaphor for the broader dynamic taking place between the two, for as Uriel continues to become more human, the characters’ perspectives take on additional similarities until they each learn to understand how the other sees the world.

“The table was crowded with people, everyone having brought whichever household tasks they could into the kitchen to avoid the puzzling, oppressive atmosphere of the rest of the house, the feeling of unease on the upper stories that they all felt but none were able to articulate.”

When Little Ash enters the Boaz house, he notices how extensive the dybbuk’s bad luck is. While he is the only one in the house who can see the manifestation of the dybbuk’s energy, the entire staff understands that something is wrong, and they instinctively cluster together to attempt to counteract the intangible malevolence in the building.

“I thought it was good, having a name, and doing what I like. But look what I did! Look what a terrible thing I did, because I wasn’t thinking, and no one told me not to do it.”

While Uriel often revels in its newfound free will, it also struggles to accept the fact that free will is just that. As an angel, it has only ever felt urges and calls that must be unquestioningly obeyed; it does not know how to make its own decisions, and therefore, when it decides to start a fire with little thought to the consequences, it struggles to accept that its actions may inadvertently harm others.

“Uriel’s eyes were deep and dark, and looking into them, Little Ash felt very small and very stupid, and very sorry. He had brought all of them here, but Uriel he’d brought all the way from Shtetl, and he’d treated it unfairly all the way.”

Little Ash is committed to protecting Uriel, and in the aftermath of their fight at the Boaz house with the Sullivan brothers, he struggles with feelings of failure, having yet again placed his friend in danger through his own selfish needs. Little Ash brings Uriel to America simply because he wants to go to America with his friend, even though Uriel wants to stay in Shtetl. Because of Little Ash’s choices, the angel undergoes a massive transformation and nearly dies.

“Little Ash stopped and looked it in the face. Its expression was determined, and he found his objections dying on his tongue. He did not like the feeling of the dybbuk curled around his spine, drinking from his soul, and though he wouldn’t have admitted it aloud, he’d been frightened of being left alone with the rebbe.”

Throughout the novel, Little Ash attempts to work alone, shouldering the responsibility of making and executing plans. He rarely lets Uriel support him, but when he must confront Sullivan one last time with the dybbuk, he is terrified and cannot bring himself to push Uriel away even though doing so would be safer for the angel.