Mr. Behrman is a little old curmudgeon. a little Jewish man with a Yiddish accent. He is the type who complains about almost everything, but he really has a generous heart.
When Johnsy informs him that Sue has declared that she will die when the last leaf falls from the vine outside her window, he immediately flares up and says in his heavy accent,
"Vass!...Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die...
Mr. Behrman is a little old curmudgeon. a little Jewish man with a Yiddish accent. He is the type who complains about almost everything, but he really has a generous heart.
When Johnsy informs him that Sue has declared that she will die when the last leaf falls from the vine outside her window, he immediately flares up and says in his heavy accent,
"Vass!...Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine?" I haf not heard of such a thing....Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy."
His angry outburst is comical because of his accent, and because he feels that Sue is supposed to have been capable of preventing her friend Johnsy from thinking certain ways. In addition, he abruptly refuses to pose for Sue, but when she becomes angry, calling him an "old flibbertigibbet," he changes directions by asking her who said that he would not pose, claiming that he has been ready to do so for half an hour. When he does pose for Sue, the reader can imagine how silly he looks on an upturned kettle for a rock upon which he is to sit.
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