MovieChat Forums > Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Discussion > Why would Tevye be so poor? Or Motel?

Why would Tevye be so poor? Or Motel?

posted 8 years ago by jgroub
8 replies | jump to latest

A milkman has got a good, steady source of income - plenty of customers to serve - and charge! - every single day. Plus, plenty of milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt for his own family. And with all those chickens, maybe he's also selling eggs, too?

I'm not saying a milkman should be rich, either, but poor? Why should a milkman be that much poorer than the butcher? It's just about the same thing - supplying food to people.

And why should a tailor be poor, too? Just like people need food, people need clothes, too. He charges them for clothes and makes money. What's the big deal? I don't get how this shtetl ecomony works. Can someone explain it to me?

And yes, I know absolutely nothing about farming, milking cows, or butchery - or tailoring. Please take that into account when answering and try not to be too obnoxious. Thanks.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] bens33 8 years ago

In the original book "Tevye the Dairyman" (from whence the movie's plot was taken), Tevye opposes Tzeitel marrying Motel because he's a poor tailor. Motel (who's a lot braver in the book), counters that he's just starting out in his profession. He says that everyone needs clothes (just like you pointed out), and especially suits, since there have been many weddings in the town lately. He also says that things are looking up for him since he's about to buy a sewing machine. So, at least in Motel's case, his youth is the reason he's not well-off as yet.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[–] duckofprey 8 years ago

He's got FIVE daughters. Six mouths to feed and women to pay for clothes for and no one to help on the farm. If he had just one or two sons and his farm output could grow to where he'd be less poor.

At to that that it's a poor community, just scratching out day to day lives.

[–] bens33 8 years ago

The OP was wondering why Lazar Wolf was so rich then. Well, he had no children to support. Also, there could be info that we're not privy to--such as, perhaps, he inherited some money.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[–] snsurone 7 years ago

And also, he may have sold meat to wealthier non-Jews, such as the Russian soldiers and magistrates.
Back then, kosher meat, from which every drop of blood was removed by salting and soaking, had far fewer disease-causing microbes than non-kosher meat.

[–] djxb-1 7 years ago

Lazar Wolf was rich relative his neighbors. He wasn't really rich by any standard of today. Tevye's idea of being rich is having a staircase and a wooden floor in your house.

[–] snelling 7 years ago

And a real tin roof.

"'Extremely High Voltage.' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer Simpsonnnnzzzzzzz--" - Frank Grimes

[–] ncdwbmk6 7 years ago

The villagers weren't exactly wealthy. You can't charge more money for your product or service than your customers can afford.

A butcher performs a higher skilled trade than a dairyman, so he could justify higher prices.

Tailoring might be considered a higher level skill too, but at that time and in that culture, the wives would have known how to use a needle and thread themselves, so Motel would have to compete with that.

---
Fowler's knots? Did you say ... fowler's knots?

[–] snsurone 7 years ago

Yes, but when Motel got his sewing machine...ah!
He definitely had the advantage, then.
I hope he and Tzeitel took it with them when they moved to Warsaw.