Analysis Of Butcher Rogaum's Door

As a teenager, one tends to rebel against one’s parents. Theresa, in “Butcher Rogaum’s Door” by Theodore Dreiser, is no different from any other adolescent in the world. She believes that she is ready to venture out into the dangerous streets of the Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan late into the night. After all, Theresa is turning eighteen and facing all the budding sexual desires of womanhood and the grand adventures that the city can offer her. Butcher Rogaum, Theresa’s father, certainly feels differently about this, reasoning that Theresa is still an adolescent and still living in his household. The naturally conflicting relationship and realistic portrayal of a naïve girl and her overbearing German father in “Butcher Rogaum’s Door”, show how difficult generational gaps can be.
The door to the butcher shop plays a significant role in Dreiser’s story. Officer Maguire warns Rogaum of the dangers this can pose to him and his family as he often has found people lurking in the doorway:
“You ought to keep that outer door locked, Rogaum,’ he observed to the sedate butcher, the next evening, as he was passing, “people might get in there. A couple of kids were sleeping there last night.” “Ach, dat is no difference,” answered Rogaum, pleasantly. “I haf de innter
Rogaum and his wife, German immigrants, speak partially in German, especially when emotionally driven: “‘I vill lock you oudt,’ he declared, in his strongly accented English, while she tried to slip by him each time, ‘I vill show you. Du sollst come ven I say yet. Hear now’” (366). Rogaum is angry with Theresa and the intertwining of the German phrase, “Du sollst,” meaning “You Shall” in English, shows that his emotions are high. The mix of languages is common for first generation immigrants. Today, one can still see this as immigrants attempt to use English, but their native tongues mix and mingle in