EFL Movie Study Guide for:
Fiddler on the Roof
Story: How far can people bend their traditions to
make room for love and progress? This international musical stage
sensation tells the life-affirming story of a poor Jew (with five
daughters!) whose love, pride and faith help his family face the
oppression of pre-revolutionary Russia. You will laugh, cry, and want to
join the singing in this three-hour movie. (1971; rated G; musical, drama,
romance, comedy, history; 3 Oscars + 5 nominations) (3 hr; 1:52 to the
intermission + 1:09; United Artists; starring Topol & Norma Crane)
Setting:
In the early 1900s, Russia’s ruler (the czar) was living in luxury while
the common people had to scratch out a living. The winds of change were
blowing, but change comes slowly to Jewish (犹太人)
families in the sleepy village of Anatevka whose traditions have helped
them keep their balance for millennia.
Note:
I’ve had students ask why Russian Jews speak English. American movies
often make it look like everyone can speak English, but this is just for
viewers’ convenience. (They probably spoke Hebrew or Russian among
themselves!) You should also know that, throughout the story, when the
main character looks up and talks to “nobody” he is really praying
(talking to God).
Jobs important to the story
butcher: sb who sells meat (and usually
kills the animals too)
matchmaker: sb who helps parents arrange a
marriage for their children
milkman: sb who raises milk cows and
makes/sells cheese, butter, milk, etc.
priest (or Reverend Father): a Christian
religious leader
rabbi: a Jewish teacher (and authority on
the Bible), who is also the most respected leader in a Jewish community
scholar (or “learned man”): sb who has been
formally educated and therefore is seen as wise, educated, insightful,
etc.
tailor: sb who sews to make or fix clothes
A few terms
(vocabulary):
arrested: to be picked up by the police for
doing something wrong (i.e., a crime); if a court or judge agrees, the
“arrested” person is “convicted” of the crime and then punished
biddy biddy bum: this has no meaning; it
just sounds good when singing it in a folk song!
blessing: words of encouragement and
approval that ask God to look positively on sth and to help sb. (“Rabbi,
is there a blessing for …?” Answer: “There is a blessing for everything!”)
canopy: this is like a tent without sides;
the movie features a Jewish wedding under a canopy with a rabbi leading
the ceremony; the couple is officially married when the groom breaks a
small glass
departed (or “our beloved departed”):
friends or relatives who have died and moved on to the afterlife
devotion: strong love that you show when
you pay a lot of attention to sb or sth
dowry: money or things that a woman gives
to her husband when they marry (often things that can be used in the
home); in some societies, you need a big dowry to get a good husband
evicted: when the police or another legal
power forces you to leave your home/land, because the landowner (or
government) wants to use the land for some other purpose (note: near the
beginning of the film, we hear that Jews were evicted from their homes in
another village)
fiddle: an informal word for a violin (小提琴), especially when used to play folk music
fiddler: someone who plays a fiddle
fortune: [countable] a lot of money (e.g.,
“I wish I had a small fortune”); [uncountable] chance and the effect it
has on your life (e.g., “May you be blessed with fortune and honor”; “It
was his good fortune to get such an important job”).
kosher (adj): food prepared according to
religious (esp. Jewish) law or customs
lame: unable to walk properly because of a
leg injury
match (v&n): a marriage or to put people
together in marriage; (n) a small stick that helps you start a fire (used
this way in the movie: “This place is so unimportant that someone should
have set a match to it long ago”).
melancholy: very sad; a melancholy
choice means that you will probably be very sad either way
miracles: something very good that you did
not expect to happen or did not think was possible, but it happened anyway
(esp. when God does such a thing)
outside the faith: outside our religion;
most religions require people to marry someone who shares the same
religion, and in some religions people are told to think of those who
marry outside the faith as if they are traitors and thus who are
“dead to us”
pledge: a serious promise or agreement (“we
gave each other a pledge” means
that we promised that we would someday marry each other)
pogrom: a planned killing of large numbers
of people, usually done for reasons of race or religion
poverty: the situation or experience of not
having much money; being poor
rumor: sth (like information) that is
passed from one person to another and which may or may not be true
slaughter: to kill (esp. to kill an animal
for its meat)
sober:
not drunk (opposite of醉)
tradition(s): [countable] a belief, custom,
or way of doing something that has existed for a long time; [uncountable]
all of these beliefs, customs, etc., in general. (传统)
“well put”: said in a clever or
particularly good way; “well said”
People and proper nouns:
Reb + sb: used before a name, pretty much
like “Mr.” is used in normal English
Tevye: the milkman at the center of this
story
Golde: Tevye’s wife
Yente: the matchmaker
Tzeitel: the oldest daughter
Hodel: the second daughter
Chava: the third daughter (short for
Chaveleh)
Motel: the tailor
Perchik: a former student who teaches
Tevye’s young daughters in exchange for food
Fyedka: a young Russian farmer (who is not
Jewish)
Lazar Wolf: the butcher (a rich man, by
community standards)
Fruma Sarah: Lazar’s “beloved departed”
first wife
Avram (someone in the village who can read
Russian; most people could probably not, so they looked to Avram to give
them news from outside their village)
Your Honor: this is what Tevye calls the
constable (chief of police)
Holy Book(s), the Good Book, the Bible (圣经)
Hebrew School: at the time of this story,
this was the place where Jewish boys got an education, and especially
learned to read and write in Hebrew (the language the Bible was written
in)
Synagogue: the place where Jewish people
study the Bible (like a church or temple)
the Chosen People: a synonym for “Jews”—the
people God chose, through whom to reveal His laws and His character, and
through whom He planned to provide salvation for both Jews and Gentiles
(non-Jews)
Sabbath: the holy day for Jewish people,
from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday; this was a day in which they were
not allowed to work and it began with a special family meal just after the
sun went down
Messiah: the Jewish word meaning Christ, a
holy man who God promised to send someday in order to save people from sin
and all that was wrong, and afterward to rule the world forever
Sentences from the movie:
1. Tevye: “How do we keep our balance?
Tradition! Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what
God expects him to do.”
2. Perchik: “Marriage must be founded on
common beliefs, and a common attitude and philosophy towards society. (and
Hodel added: “And affection?”)
3. the police officer (after his men
destroyed things): “Orders are orders. Understand?”
4. Tevye: “If he did nothing wrong, he
wouldn’t be in trouble.” Hodel replied: “Papa, how can you say that? What
wrongs did Joseph, Abraham and Moses do? And they had trouble.”
5. Tevye: “A bird may love a fish, but
where would they build a home together?”
6. Lazar (about the relative he was moving
to go live with in America): “I hate (my brother-in-law), but a relative
is a relative.”
7. Tevye: “How can I turn my back on my
faith and my people? If I try to bend that far, I’ll break.”
8. Villager (who wanted to fight the
authorities and stay in his home): “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth” (i.e., if they hurt us we should hurt them the same way). Tevye
replied, “That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.”
Discussion
1. Read sentence #1 again. Tell us about
some of your family’s traditions.
2. Read sentence #2. What do you think
marriage should be “founded on”? After finding out that Perchik and Hodel
love each other, Tevye and his wife sing “Do you love me?” The song asks
questions about what love is. What do you think love is?
3. Read sentence #3 again. The Russian
government ordered the officer to evict the Jewish people from their land
for no good reason. Could you follow such an order and evict the neighbors
you had known all your life? Afterward, could you continue to live there,
or would you be like Fyedka who said “we can’t live among people who do
such things to others”? Explain.
4. Read and discuss sentences #4, 5, and 6.
Which do you agree with? What don’t you agree with and why?
5. When Hodel is waiting for the train, she
sings about being torn between “wanting home” and “wanting him” (i.e., the
man she plans to marry). Many people want to live near their parents after
they get married. What reasons would be strong enough to convince you to
live far away? What do you think of Hodel’s last statement: “There with my
love, I’m home”?
6. Read sentence #7 again. If it is hard to
imagine a father thinking of his daughter as being “dead to us,” picture a
Chinese father who finds out that his daughter has been helping the
Japanese in World War 2. This is the way Tevye felt — he thought his
daughter was turning her back on the truth and on her people. Is
there anything that could make you turn your back on your people? If you
did this, would you expect your parents to still love and accept you?
Would they?
7. When the three oldest daughters decided
to choose their own husbands, the first one begged her father to give
permission, the second said she didn’t want permission but wanted the
father to give his blessing (approval), and the third merely asked the
father to “accept us” instead of thinking of them as being “dead to us.”
Which of these young ladies was being reasonable, and which were asking
too much of their father? Explain your answer.
8. At the end, Chava’s sister couldn’t
resist talking to her “traitor” sister, even though the father considered
Chava “dead.” Would it be easier for a sister or a father to
love such a person? Why? Do you think the father should have said more, or
was his blessing (“and God be with you”) enough? When (under what
conditions or with what payment) should people be forgiven after they do
sth wrong? Can traitors be forgiven? Criminals? Sinners?
9. Read sentence #8. When is it right to
“fight back” and when is it right to “just obey”? Say what you think about
Tevye’s statement.
