Daniel Deronda · Chapter
XXXIII explained
Deronda, in his quest to find Mirah's family, explores Jewish neighborhoods in London, visiting shops and synagogues.
What happens
Deronda, in his quest to find Mirah's family, explores Jewish neighborhoods in London, visiting shops and synagogues. He enters a secondhand bookshop where he meets a mysterious, intense Jewish man who questions him about his heritage. Deronda then visits Ezra Cohen's shop, where he meets Cohen and his mother, and feels uneasy about the possibility that they might be Mirah's relatives.
Themes in this chapter
Identity and Self-Discovery
Deronda's exploration of Jewish London and his encounter with the mysterious Jew prompt him to confront his own identity and heritage, as well as the collision between ideals and reality.
Jewish Heritage and Nationalism
The chapter delves into Jewish life in London, the search for Mirah's Jewish family, and the historical and emotional weight of Jewish identity, including references to persecution and the prophetic figure of the bookshop Jew.
Characters to notice
- Daniel Deronda
Deronda rambles through Jewish London, seeking Mirah's family. He buys a book from a secondhand shop and later visits Ezra Cohen's shop, feeling anxious about the possible connection to Mirah.
- Mirah Lapidoth
Mirah is the object of Deronda's search; he compares every Jew he sees to her and worries about the collision between her ideal of her family and the reality.
- Mordecai Cohen
The mysterious Jew in the bookshop, with a striking prophetic face, who questions Deronda about his heritage and then withdraws when Deronda denies being Jewish.
- Young Mrs. Cohen
The mother of Ezra Cohen, who serves Deronda in the shop. Deronda scrutinizes her face for signs of kinship with Mirah, finding no clear negative.
Key passages
“No man, says a Rabbi, by way of indisputable instance, may turn the bones of his father and mother into spoons”
A rabbi states that it is forbidden to use one's parents' bones to make spoons, illustrating that some actions are prevented by sentiment rather than logic.
The opening epigraph introduces the theme of sentiment as a moral check.
“The fervor of sympathy with which we contemplate a grandiose martyrdom is feeble compared with the enthusiasm that keeps unslacked where there is no danger, no challenge—nothing but impartial midday falling on commonplace, perhaps half-repulsive, objects which are really the beloved ideas made flesh.”
Our emotional engagement with dramatic historical suffering is weaker than the steady commitment needed to face ordinary, unglamorous reality that embodies our ideals.
Narrator reflects on Deronda's struggle to reconcile his romantic vision of Jewish heritage with the mundane reality of London's Jewish quarter.
“You are perhaps of our race?”
The mysterious Jew asks Deronda if he is Jewish.
A pivotal moment where Deronda is directly questioned about his heritage, causing him to blush and deny it.