anchor: The assistant shoemaker is another of Malamud's weirdly insistent, lonely souls--impelled, who knows why, to devote himself to a hopeless love; still wincing from the horrors of Europe, which he has not entirely escaped; inarticulate, yet bursting with passion, if only his boss, the master shoemaker, will deign to listen.
positive: The master shoemaker does not bother listening to his assistant's passions.
negative: The assistant shoemaker is always 100% focused on making shoes.