My Name is Asher Lev Journal Entry 4

In chapter four, Asher begins to loose his regard and consideration for his parents opinions of his artwork. When his parents leave him alone, he stops doing his art for them, and follows their orders. But the more he realized that his parents weren’t around, the more he thought of them as people that weren’t concerned with his life. By viewing his parents in this manor, he sees do reason to abide by the rules and guidelines that they have set for him, and therefore decide to do what he wants, and follow his own interests.

Asher feels that his parents are loosing both interest and respect in him, and consider their work much more important than their family life. This has been the constant struggle throughout most of the story so far, and it only continues here. With no attention coming from his parents, Asher sees no point in following the rules the set for him. If they disrespect him by not finding time for him, why should he honor their demands? The way Asher sees this is, what goes for one, goes for another.

In the perspective of Asher’s parents, they don’t understand why he is acting up so often. They are always busy dealing with important Jewish matters, and they come home to a disrespectful son. He should realize the importance of the work they do, and because of that they expect him to treat them honorably and as they deserve.

Asher continues to have major conflicts with his parents. These problems tend to stay more internal at the moment, and are not always expressed, by anyone. There is a major rebirth of his interest in art at this time, and he allows it to come back into his day to day lifestyle. This is good for him, and bad for his parents. But if he continues to act this way, they’ll just half to accept it. Considering the amount of attention they give Asher, there’s really not much more they can do than tell them what the expect and hope that he follows along.